Girlboss

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A female entrepreneur who succeeds in the male-dominated business world. neologism

    "The book also includes sidebars featuring guest “girlbosses” (bloggers, Internet entrepreneurs) who share equally clichéd suggestions for business success."

  2. 2
    Any strong-willed, independent, enterprising woman. broadly, neologism

    "But viewers stanned girlbosses in every genre, from Parks and Recreation's idealistic bureaucrat Leslie Knope to Game of Thrones' colonizer Khaleesi, Daenerys Targaryen."

Verb
  1. 1
    To behave or act as a girlboss. intransitive

    "Girlbossing provided a tenuous bridge in the mid-2010s: on one end, the reality of social upheaval and stagnant wage growth that met young people in the job market after the Great Recession; on the other, the long-gone world of predictable corporate success that these women had been promised by the professional progress of their mothers."

Example

More examples

"The book also includes sidebars featuring guest “girlbosses” (bloggers, Internet entrepreneurs) who share equally clichéd suggestions for business success."

Etymology

From girl + boss, popularised by American businesswoman Sophia Amoruso in her 2014 book #Girlboss.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.