Daughter Definition & Meaning

American

British

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Examples

Related Words

Synonyms daughter American [daw-ter] / ˈdɔ tər /

noun

1. a female child or person in relation to her parents.

2. any female descendant.

3. a person related as if by the ties binding daughter to parent.

   daughter of the church.

4. anything personified as female and considered with respect to its origin.

   The United States is the daughter of the 13 colonies.

5. Chemistry, Physics. an isotope formed by radioactive decay of another isotope.

adjective

1. Biology. pertaining to a cell or other structure arising from division or replication.

   daughter cell; daughter DNA.

daughter British / ˈdɔːtə /

noun

1. a female offspring; a girl or woman in relation to her parents

2. a female descendant

3. a female from a certain country, etc, or one closely connected with a certain environment, etc

   a daughter of the church

4. archaic (often capital) a form of address for a girl or woman

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

1. biology denoting a cell or unicellular organism produced by the division of one of its own kind

2. physics (of a nuclide) formed from another nuclide by radioactive decay

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

• daughter-like adjective
• daughterhood noun
• daughterless adjective
• daughterlike adjective
• daughterliness noun
• daughterly adjective

Etymology

Origin of daughter

before 950; Middle English doughter, Old English dohtor; cognate with German Tochter, Greek thygátēr, Sanskrit duhitā

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

He was returned to Ukraine as part of a prisoner exchange earlier this year, and Bakhtar and her 17-year-old daughter moved to Odesa to reunite the family.

From The Wall Street Journal

In Britain, he kept a low profile alongside his wife, a cardiologist, and their daughter.

From Barron's

But more often in recent years it was Rupert - for many decades the most influential media titan in the world - and his daughter Elisabeth who would make time for each other.

From BBC

Instead, her family says, thieves drove off with a gold necklace that was priceless to her because it carried the ashes of her late daughter.

From Los Angeles Times

The article, entitled “Lessons From the School of Hard Knocks,” describes how Miranda and her daughter arrived on the streets of Santa Maria with no job, home or car and only $40 to support them.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• child
• descendant
• female offspring
• girl
• kid
• offspring

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.