vixen

noun

vix·en ˈvik-sən

: a female fox

: a shrewish, ill-tempered woman

When Arabella called her a treacherous vixen and a heartless, profligate hussy, she spoke out freely, and said that she wasn't going to be abused.—

Anthony Trollope

informal : a sexually attractive woman

In this spy spoof, our hero, aided by a sexy vixen, … saves the world from a power-mad despot …—

Steven Rebello

vixenish

ˈvik-s(ə-)nish

adjective

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Vixens and Foxes

Vixen literally refers to a female fox, but it has two very distinctive extended meanings: “a shrew” and “a sexy woman.” How is it that the word took such semantically divergent paths?

The “combative, bad-tempered woman” sense has a very long history in our language, going back as far as the 16th century and extending well into the 20th. It may be found in Shakespeare and Swift as well as in latter-day descriptions of mothers-in-law and the names of gun boats. By mid-century, however, vixen begins to be used of glamorous and attractive women. Perhaps its application to female characters who combined combative and seductive qualities led to the word's reinterpretation. Or perhaps it was influenced by fox, another term for an attractive young woman that made its appearance in English around this time.

Examples of vixen in a Sentence

why anyone puts up with that vixen's sharp tongue is beyond me

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

With his entourage of ballers and video vixens, his retinue of security, his talent for curation, Puff was the ringmaster of relevancy, the pied piper of fun and the force at the very center of cultural power. —

Amy Dubois Barnett, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Oct. 2024 At a baseline, video vixens confirmed that Black women deserve all of the episodic things shown in the music videos. —

Raquel Reichard, refinery29.com, 24 Sep. 2024 Those three vixens see the event as a chance to launch their influencer careers; they’re pressured to succeed by Annabelle’s ambitious stage mom, Janette (Wilson), who operates a salon called Curl Up N Dye out of her garage. —

Peter Debruge, Variety, 15 Sep. 2024 She’s dressed like an Old Hollywood vixen: wearing a sleek, tan trench coat paired with leather boots, oversized sunglasses and a headscarf. —

Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 9 Aug. 2024 See all Example Sentences for vixen