noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A female reproductive organ, often paired, that produces ova in most animals, and in mammals, secretes the hormones estrogen and progesterone.

   "The male testicles are homologous to the female ovaries."

2. 2
   (vertebrates) one of usually two organs that produce ova and secrete estrogen and progesterone wordnet
3. 3
   The lower part of a pistil or carpel that bears ovules and ripens into fruit.
4. 4
   the organ that bears the ovules of a flower wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

bagballocksballsbasketbeardbreast

Example

More examples

"She had a bad infection and her ovary swelled up."

Etymology

From New Latin ovarium, from Medieval Latin ovaria (“bird ovary”), from Latin ovum (“egg”). Doublet of ovarium.

Related phrases

Chinese hamster ovary cellpolycystic ovary syndromereproductive organ

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