Kvinesdal is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Lister. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Liknes. Other villages in Kvinesdal include Feda, Fjotland, and Storekvina.

Kvinesdal is an elongated mountain-to-coast municipality, reaching saltwater at the head of the Fedafjorden, which provides access to the North Sea in the south. Further north, the landscape is cut by narrow valleys with scattered small villages. There are also abandoned mines at Knaben, a popular ski resort. Because Kvinesdal resembles the geography of the nation as a whole, it is often referred to as "Little Norway".

The 963-square-kilometre (372 sq mi) municipality is the 121st largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Kvinesdal is the 159th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 6,024. The municipality's population density is 6.8 inhabitants per square kilometre (18/sq mi) and its population has increased by 2.1% over the previous 10-year period.

Kvinesdal belongs to a central area in the Norwegian south from which many people emigrated to North America, particularly the United States, from the 1850s until the 1950s. It is noted for being an "American village" (Norwegian: Amerika-bygd) because of the high number of American residents. These are typically either Norwegians who moved to the States, obtained US Citizenship and later moved back to Norway, or are descendants of Norwegians who have never acquired Norwegian citizenship.

The parish of Kvinesdal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1841, the neighboring municipality of Fjotland (population: 980) was merged with Kvinesdal to form a new, larger municipality of Kvinesdal, although this was short-lived. In 1858, the merger was un-done and Fjotland became a separate municipality once again. After the split, Kvinesdal had 4,485 residents.

On 1 January 1900, the municipality of Kvinesdal was divided into two: the municipality of Feda in the far southern part (population: 1,090) and the municipality of Liknes in the northern part (population: 2,937). The name of Liknes municipality was changed (back) to Kvinesdal in 1917. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1963, the municipalities of Fjotland (population: 1,244), Feda (population: 576), and Kvinesdal (population: 3,218) were merged to form one large municipality of Kvinesdal.

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Kvinesdalen valley (Old Norse: Hvínisdalr). The first element of the name comes from the old name for the local Fedafjorden. The old name of the fjord was Hvínir. The old fjord name comes from the name of the main river, Kvina, which flows into the fjord. The old river name, Hvín is derived from the verb hvína which means "to squeal" or "to whistle". The last element of the name is dalr which means "valley" or "dale".

In 1900, the municipality was renamed Liknes. This was short-lived, however, and in 1917 the name was changed back to Kvinesdal. The new name came from the old Liknes farm (Old Norse: Leiknes). The first element comes from the word leikr which means "game" or "sport". The last element is nes which means "headland". Thus, a headland for games or sports.