beta female

English

Noun

beta female (plural beta females)

1. A female that is second in a social or group hierarchy; subordinate to an alpha female but superior to an omega female.
   • 2009, Joan Roughgarden, Evolution’s Rainbow, →ISBN:

     In seventeen instances, an alpha female approached a beta female while both were alone, and they mated.

   • 2013 -, Leonard A. Rosenblum, Primate Behavior: Developments in Field and Laboratory Research, →ISBN:

     The alpha female of troop I, with her offspring at her chest, sits next to the beta female.

   • 2014, Keith McCafferty, Dead Man's Fancy: A Novel, →ISBN, page 161:

     Let me get this in focus and ... okay, we got, yes, I think so, the beta female and the omega male, he's a shade darker.

2. A woman who has stereotypically feminine traits, such as being gentle, nurturing, and emotional.
   • 2012, Sally J. Walker, Screenwriting Secrets in Genre Film, →ISBN:

     The Beta Female is perceptive, emotional, maternal and soft.

   • 2013, Anna Madsen, Glamour Puss - a Tongue-in-Cheek Guide to Being a Powerful Woman, →ISBN:

     The beta female is sensitive: rather than shouting and being aggressive, she shows her discontent with tears and a pouting lip.

   • 2013, E. Marx, The Power of Global Teams:

     She demonstrated in her research that a combination of masculine and feminine dispositions is more adaptive than stereotypial extremes. Bad news for the alpha male and beta female!