What does "bitch" mean?
A female dog or other canine, particularly a recent mother.
Bitch
/bɪt͡ʃ/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A female dog or other canine, particularly a recent mother.
- Grammar: bitch is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: gripe, air a grievance, augean task, backbite.
- Useful contrasts: admire, appreciate, approve.
- Usage evidence: Whom God loves, his bitch brings forth pigs.
How to use "bitch"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "bitch" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "bitch" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "bitch" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "bitch" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "bitch" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "gripe" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "bitch", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A female dog or other canine, particularly a recent mother. countable, uncountable
"My bitch just had puppies; they're so cute!"
- 2 female of any member of the dog family wordnet
- 3 A promiscuous woman, slut, whore. archaic, countable, offensive, uncountable
- 4 informal terms for objecting wordnet
- 5 A despicable or disagreeable, aggressive person, usually a woman. countable, offensive, slang, uncountable, vulgar
"Near-synonyms: cunt (vulgar, offensive); see also Thesaurus:jerk"
Show 17 more definitions
- 6 a person (usually but not necessarily a woman) who is thoroughly disliked wordnet
- 7 A woman. countable, offensive, slang, uncountable, vulgar
"Biggie, remember when I used to let you sleep on the couch, and beg the bitch to let you sleep in the house?"
- 8 an unpleasant difficulty wordnet
- 9 A man considered weak, effeminate, timid or pathetic in some way countable, offensive, uncountable, vulgar
- 10 A man considered weak, effeminate, timid or pathetic in some way; An obviously gay man. countable, derogatory, offensive, uncountable, vulgar
- 11 A submissive person who does what others want; (prison slang) a man forced or coerced into a homoerotic relationship. countable, offensive, uncountable, vulgar
"Dude, don't be a bitch. Assert yourself."
- 12 A female sexual partner, typically in casual sexual relations countable, derogatory, idiomatic, slang, uncountable, vulgar
- 13 A female sexual partner, typically in casual sexual relations; a sexual partner countable, derogatory, humorous, idiomatic, slang, uncountable, vulgar
- 14 A playful variation on dog (sense "man"). countable, informal, obsolete, uncountable
- 15 Friend. colloquial, countable, humorous, uncountable, vulgar
"What’s up, bitch?"
- 16 A complaint, especially when the complaint is unjustified. colloquial, countable, uncountable, vulgar
- 17 A difficult or confounding problem. colloquial, countable, uncountable, vulgar
"That level was a real bitch, don’t you think?"
- 18 A queen playing card, particularly the queen of spades in the card game of hearts. colloquial, countable, uncountable, vulgar
- 19 Something unforgiving and unpleasant. countable, figuratively, uncountable, vulgar
"[…] he wrote to me last week telling me about an incredible bitch of a row blazing there on account of someone having been and gone and produced an unofficial magazine called Raddled, full of obscene libellous Oz-like filth. And what I thought, what Sammy and I thought, was – why not?"
- 20 Place; situation countable, informal, slang, uncountable, vulgar
"I'm 'bout to get up outta this bitch."
- 21 Tea (the drink). UK, countable, obsolete, uncountable
"[…] seldom gets "a little the worse for liquor," gives no swell parties, runs very little into debt, takes his cup of bitch at night, and goes quietly to bed, and thus he passes his time in a way a Varmint man would despise."
- 22 A queen. countable, offensive, slang, uncountable, vulgar
Verb
- 1 To behave or act as a bitch; especially, to complain excessively. intransitive, vulgar
- 2 say mean things wordnet
- 3 To complain or criticize spitefully, often for the sake of complaining rather than in order to have the problem corrected. intransitive, vulgar
"All you ever do is bitch about the food I cook for you!"
- 4 complain wordnet
- 5 To spoil, to ruin. transitive, vulgar
"'You're a Franco-maniac…You're thought to be a French agent…That's what's bitching your career!'"
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"Whom God loves, his bitch brings forth pigs."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "bitch"?
Common synonyms include: gripe, air a grievance, augean task, backbite, backbreaker, bad woman.
How do you use "bitch" in a sentence?
Whom God loves, his bitch brings forth pigs.
How do you pronounce "bitch"?
Pronounced /bɪt͡ʃ/.
Etymology
From Middle English biche, bicche, from Old English biċċe, from Proto-West Germanic *bikkjā, from Proto-Germanic *bikjǭ (“female dog”) (compare Norwegian bikkje (“dog, bitch”), Old Danish bikke (“bitch”)), from Proto-Germanic *bikjaną (“to thrust, attack”) (compare Old Norse bikkja (“to plunge into water”), Dutch bikken (“to hack”)). Related to bicker.