Main meanings of male in English

: male¹ Male²

male¹

adjective

1Of or denoting the sex that produces gametes, especially spermatozoa, with which a female may be fertilized or inseminated to produce offspring.
‘male children’
- ‘The chromosome from the father determines whether the offspring becomes male or female.’
- ‘Thus, the benefits to offspring of male incubation may be reduced in various species.’
- ‘Some females even adjust the ratio of male to female offspring depending on the circumstances.’
- ‘Biological differentiation into male and female makes sexual reproduction possible.’
- ‘Reef fishes are egg-layers, and the eggs are externally fertilized by the male parent.’
- ‘An emphasis on male offspring and the male line is found throughout the country.’
- ‘The biological consequences concern both male and female reproductive systems.’
- ‘Male fish with both male and female reproductive systems have been found in the River Ouse in the county.’
- ‘Other males and male offspring have no recourse but either to accept celibacy, look elsewhere, or kill the father.’
- ‘So there is some evidence that male sterility can negatively affect female fitness.’
- ‘In this case it appears that male sterility caused self-fertilization to fail but some days later cross-fertilization took place.’
- ‘The 65 987 participants were predominantly male and middle aged.’
- ‘While students are predominantly male, any driver with a valid license can sign up.’
- ‘The subscription lists, particularly those before 1860, suggest that the audience was predominantly male.’
- ‘Havana produced Carlos Acosta, now a member of the Royal Ballet, the world's number one male dancer.’
- ‘Petronio was the first male dancer of the Trisha Brown Company, for which he danced from 1979 to 1986.’
- ‘But then from memory mass murderers or serial killers were pretty much exclusively male.’
- ‘Today, there are few, if any, maritime roles that remain exclusively male.’
- ‘The mostly male executives running corporations across America would do well to take note.’
- ‘Female students, on average, take more valuable equipment than their male counterparts.’
masculine, to do with men, he-
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1. 1.1Relating to or characteristic of men or male animals.
  ‘a deep male voice’
  ‘We women in business are measured by how many male characteristics we have.’
  ‘The slow release of testosterone ensures that sex drive and male characteristics, such as body hair, are maintained.’
  ‘We know also that in animals the male hormone, testosterone, is related to dominance and aggression.’
  ‘We were unable to identify any male characteristics that were associated with EPF.’
  ‘Younger women use the monophthongs characteristic of male speech.’
  ‘The four male voices of the Hilliard earned thunderous foot-stamping applause from a capacity audience at Canongate Kirk.’
  ‘Imagine those choruses of lusty male voices singing The Internationale on the soundtrack.’
  ‘Both times Darren said he heard a gruff male voice in the background speaking angrily in rapid fire French.’
  ‘The Talking Messenger has 15 readers, but is always looking for more, especially male voices.’
  ‘He will go down in history as the most popular male voice of all time.’
  ‘The elephants are also slow to respond to a woman's voice as their hearing is tuned to following a male voice.’
  ‘Over the speakers, the male voice reading was full of love but full of loss.’
  ‘A male voice said the chairman would return the call, but there was no response from Rao up to press time.’
  ‘Their intense dialogue was somehow interrupted by the deep male voices approaching.’
  ‘Founded in 1944, the Orpheus Choir may have to fold due to a lack of male voices.’
  ‘You live in a place where male bonding takes on a whole new life!’
  ‘Also, how many males will want their offspring to suffer male pattern baldness?’
  ‘However, in some species, females use male traits to predict spermatophore quality.’
  ‘Thus, it seems logical for a correlation to exist between male and female fertility traits.’
  ‘He sat in on his wife's women's group, with their permission, as they talked about menopause and male menopause.’
  ‘Firstly, to get the male point of view, they interview one man.’
  ‘Many footballers in England earned a wage that was not much greater than average adult male earnings in manufacturing.’
  male, aggressively male, masculine, unpleasantly masculine
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2. 1.2(of a plant or flower) bearing stamens but lacking functional pistils.
  ‘The pollen grain is the male gametophytic phase of flowering plants.’
  ‘The path of pollen tubes has not been investigated, as male flowers were not available.’
  ‘Live oaks produce male flowers called catkins that bloom in hanging clusters.’
  ‘Thus, the perianth of male flowers is often larger than that of female flowers.’
  ‘Inflorescences with male flowers only were found in various sequential inflorescences in the six populations.’
  ‘It is now clear that mutation rates are greater in male than in female germ lines.’
3. 1.3(of a fitting or part of machinery) manufactured to fit inside a corresponding female part.
  ‘the valve has standard half-inch threaded male ends’
  ‘The fitting also includes a male end portion configured to engage female threads on the hub of the receptacle.’
  ‘Cut another small piece of pipe and attach male adapters on both ends.’
  ‘This audio cable with male connectors on each end is used with ISDN primary rate interfaces.’
  ‘Then the connector was flanged onto the newly installed flexible pipe end termination which will mate with the male hub connection structure.’

noun

A male person, plant, or animal.
‘the audience consisted of adult males’
- ‘Common chimpanzees are very social animals, with males forming the closest bonds.’
- ‘Adult natal males were never observed to achieve intromission, so all complete copulations involved immigrants.’
- ‘Interactions among newborns, mothers, and adult males are rarely observed but are needed to distinguish between these hypotheses.’
- ‘The idea was that every adult white male would have his own gun.’
- ‘Even Frodo, the longtime dominant alpha male, is feeling poorly and lying low.’
- ‘Neither of the two unmated males sired extra-pair young.’
- ‘And so often what is radical is defined by white heterosexual males and females.’
- ‘The researcher worldview is that of a middle-class, white, heterosexual male.’
- ‘Territorial males sired, on average, significantly more offspring per reproductive season than peripherals.’
- ‘Mate guarding is the primary mating tactic used by dominant males of many species of ungulates.’
- ‘An adolescent heterosexual male, for example, is certainly driven to distraction by his hormonal urge to reproduce.’
- ‘There is a palpably macho tone to all of this, as of alpha males competing for dominance and display.’
- ‘The purpose of the program is to develop responsible sexual behavior among young adolescent males.’
- ‘Participants in this study included 105 adolescent males between the ages of 12 and 18 in outpatient and residential programs.’
- ‘There was no predation and there were no unmated males in our population.’
- ‘But costs rise to four times the European average for young males aged between 17 and 24.’
- ‘Plot shows percentage of females produced by hybrid males of various genotypes.’
- ‘For black males aged 15-19, the rate increased 105 percent.’
- ‘Smaller groups usually consist of an unmated female courted by unmated males.’
- ‘Sometimes, though, the ratio of males to females lurches out of balance.’
man, adult male, gentleman
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