Word.ws English Dictionary

alpha male

alpha male noun: the dominant male in a group of animals.

Noun

alpha male (plural alpha males)

  1. (ethology) The dominant male in a group of animals.
  2. (broadly) A dominant, assertive, protective, oftentimes successful, leadership-type man or male.
    • Alpha male investing Aggressive stock-picker on the prowl for less risky financial plan Stanley Richards may have been a latecomer to investing, but he's made up for lost time by aggressively buying2000 Feb, Black Enterprise, Alpha Male Investing, volume 30, number 7, page 54
    • This alpha-male status gives him the highest opportunity to mate with many of the best genetic examples of the females in his liking2007, Paul Dobransky, L. A. Stamford, The Secret Psychology of How We Fall in Love, link
    Synonyms:
    alpha, male alpha
    Antonyms:
    omega male

Adjective

alpha male (comparative more alpha male, superlative most alpha male)

  1. Exhibiting the characteristics of a dominant male; dominant, assertive, and protective.
    • You don't get more alpha male than this, I thought.2012, Ben Evans, Tragedy and Triumph in Orbit, page 78

alpha male meaning in Arabic and Thai

alpha male in Arabic

dominant male animal
أَلْفَا ʔalfā, حَيَوان أَلْفَا ḥayawān ʔalfā
figuratively: leading man
فَحْل faḥl, رَجُل أَلْفَا rajul ʔalfā

alpha male in Thai

dominant male animal
จ่าฝูง jàa-fǔung

Examples of alpha male in a sentence

  • The alpha male, is lucky in this regard, since he has a gang and while he must protect them allyear unknown, Wings Of Success, How to Attract Anything You want in Life, page 32
  • Nadal is supposedly the alpha male in any slugfest.2012 June 28, Jamie Jackson, “Wimbledon 2012: Lukas Rosol shocked by miracle win over Rafael Nadal”, in the Guardian:

Synonyms of alpha male

Antonyms

Forms of alpha male

Noun
pluralalpha males
Adjective
comparativemore alpha male
superlativemost alpha male

Origin of alpha male

Originally used in scientific research of hierarchies in social animals, the term is now often applied to men with dominating characteristics. Already in some use during the 1990s, it was further popularized by Neil Strauss in The Game (2005).

Questions about alpha male

What does alpha male mean?
Alpha male means the dominant male in a group of animals.
What is alpha male in Arabic?
Alpha male in Arabic is أَلْفَا (ʔalfā), حَيَوان أَلْفَا (ḥayawān ʔalfā), فَحْل (faḥl). See Alpha male meaning in Arabic.
How do you use alpha male in a sentence?
The alpha male, is lucky in this regard, since he has a gang and while he must protect them all
What part of speech is alpha male?
Alpha male can be a noun or an adjective.
What is the plural of alpha male?
The plural of alpha male is alpha males.

Words near alpha male in the dictionary

  1. Alpha Leonis
  2. alpha level
  3. alpha levels
  4. alpha linolenic acid
  5. Alpha Lyrae
  6. alpha male
  7. alpha males
  8. alpha max
  9. alpha maxes
  10. alpha naphthol
  11. Alpha Ophiuchi

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: alpha male (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-alpha male.wav.

Cite this entry: “alpha male.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/alpha_male. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.