actress
Americannoun
noun
-
a woman who acts in a play, film, broadcast, etc
-
informal a woman who puts on a false manner in order to deceive others
Usage
Use of the word actress to refer to a female who acts is old-fashioned. The modern gender-neutral form is actor
Gender
What's the difference between actress and actor? See -ess.
Etymology
Origin of actress
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.
Catherine O’Hara won a posthumous Actor Award for actress in a comedy series for her role in “The Studio.”
From Los Angeles Times
“I felt as an actress, to be honest, like I always would hit up against a wall of how much I was able to participate or express,” she says.
From Los Angeles Times
Catherine O'Hara, who died suddenly in January, could win the award for best actress in a comedy series for "The Studio."
From Barron's
A favorite Broadway actress sang “The Rochester Knockings at Barnum’s Hotel,” and Mysterious Knockings, “a new farce full of glorious fun and frolic,” played at a popular theater.
From Literature
Ms. Campbell, never the most beguiling actress, has appeared in every entry except “Scream VI” and gives another perfunctory performance.
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.
