Meanings
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1
noun
a female fox
The vixen carried food back to the cubs hidden in the den.
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2
noun
a dated and insulting term for a quarrelsome or bad-tempered woman
The novel's narrator unfairly dismisses the outspoken widow as a vixen.
Thesaurus
Etymology
From Middle English fixen and Old English fyxe or a related feminine formation meaning 'female fox.' The initial f became v in southern English dialects, and that voiced form entered standard English. The disparaging sense applied to women developed by metaphor.