Meaning & use
girls
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“girls” is a form of “girl”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
nounplural
More than one female child or young female person.
Grammar: Plural of girl; takes a plural verb: the girls are playing.
Patterns
- the girls in something
- girls and boys
The girls were playing football in the yard.
Three girls from our school won the science prize.
Boys and girls can join the club.
nounpluralinformal
Female friends or women who spend time together, used informally for adults.
Grammar: Used informally with the; the girls means one's group of female friends.
Patterns
- a night out with the girls
I'm meeting the girls for dinner on Friday.
She went on holiday with her girls.
The girls from the office organised a surprise party.
Word forms
| singular | girl |
|---|
Common combinations
- girls' school
- She attended a girls' school in London.
- young girls
- Young girls were selling flowers by the road.
- girls' night out
- We planned a girls' night out at the cinema.
- little girls
- The little girls wore matching coats.
Synonyms and how they differ
- lasses
- Lasses is a regional, mainly northern British word and sounds more affectionate or old-fashioned than girls.
- women
- Women refers to adults and is the respectful default, while girls refers to children or is casual.
- daughters
- Daughters describes family relationship rather than age or gender in general.
Opposites
Word family
- girl noun
- singular form
- girlhood noun
- the time of being a girl
- girlish adjective
- typical of a young girl
- girlfriend noun
- a female partner in a romantic relationship
Commonly confused: girls or girl's?
girls vs girl's
Girl's shows possession by one girl, while girls is simply the plural.
Practice
All the ___ in the class finished the project early.
Choose one answer.
Girls is the plural noun needed after all the. Girl's is possessive and girl is singular.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “girls”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.