Definition of "actress" []

• A woman who is an actor. See Usage Note at -ess. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The show is looking for a name actress to recur as Hank's med school nemesis."
• "The First Actresses, National Portrait Gallery - review The catalogue of the new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery opens with a dejected little enquiry into the origin of the term "actress", as though the author, Gill Perry, has some objection to the distinction in terms of gender between the male and female trouper."
• "She replaced the original actress slated for the title actress role in the 1960 movie and gained worldwide fame and infamy; an Asian American woman as a pioneering lead actress in a Hollywood movie in a role that reinforced biased Western perceptions of their sexuality."