Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Having qualities or characteristics more often associated with women than men. See Synonyms at female.
- adj. Characterized by weakness and excessive refinement.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To make womanish; unman; weaken.
- To grow womanish or weak; melt into weakness.
- Having the qualities of the female sex; soft or delicate to an unmanly degree; womanish: applied to men.
- Characterized by or resulting from effeminacy: as, an effeminate peace; an effeminate life.
- Womanlike; tender.
- Synonyms Womanish, etc. (see feminine), weak, unmanly.
Wiktionary
- adj. of a man or boy Having behaviour or mannerisms considered unmasculine or typical of a woman or girl; feminine.
- v. archaic To make womanly; to unman.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Having some characteristic of a woman, as delicacy, luxuriousness, etc.; soft or delicate to an unmanly degree; womanish; weak.
- adj. Womanlike; womanly; tender; -- in a good sense.
- v. To make womanish; to make soft and delicate; to weaken.
- v. To grow womanish or weak.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. having unsuitable feminine qualities
Etymologies
- From Latin effēminātus, past participle of effēmināre. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English effeminat, from Latin effēminātus, past participle of effēmināre, to make feminine : ex-, ex- + fēmina, woman; see dhē(i)- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It's the "unbecoming" part that leads me to associate the word effeminate with a degree of campiness that I don't believe applies to Renly and Loras.”
“The adjectives and derivatives based on woman's distinctions are alien and derogatory when applied to human affairs; "effeminate" -- too female, connotes contempt, but has no masculine analogue; whereas "emasculate" -- not enough male, is a term of reproach, and has no feminine analogue.”
“But the male assumes his influence to be normal, human, and the female influence as wholly a matter of sex; therefore, where women teach boys, the boys become "effeminate" -- a grievous fall.”
“His complexion might in itself be called effeminate, its bloom was so fresh and delicate; but there was so much of boldness and energy in the play of his countenance, the hardy outline of the lips, and the open breadth of the forehead, that "effeminate" was an epithet no one ever assigned to his aspect.”
“I wonder how much the boys' recourse to "prescribed" externalizations of genuine depression-- particularly boys who have a real hangup about being "effeminate"-- winds up in the form of almost exclusively emotionally abusive relationships.”
“If men engage in homosexual act or a homosexual relationship and they are perceived as being effeminate, that is when they are more likely to be the victims of persecution.”
“In other cultures he might be described as effeminate and, therefore, be an object of derision.”
“That which is soft and effeminate, which is calculated to excite the passions, by multitudes of ambiguous expressions, (not the less dangerous for being so cloaked) should be considered by Christians as an abuse the more deplorable, as it has even been censured and condemned by the pagans.”
“Taken as a whole, there is something impalpable and immaterial about him, which I will not venture to call effeminate, but which is scarcely manly.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘effeminate’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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EN - eloquence in public speaking
Key words from "The Training of a Public Speaker" by Grenville Kleiser (New York and London, 1920)
beget, imago, approbation, orator, peroration, Cicero, eloquence, elocution, rhetoric, premeditate, plead, Isocrates and 264 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1901 more...
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queer decadence
decadent, sybaritic, effeminate, languid, dubious, happy-go-lucky, eccentric, bizarre, rantipole, devil-may-care, slaphappy, debauched and 8 more...
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the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
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MiaLuthien's list ♥
gambit, prehensile, coquetry, impunity, genuflect, ensconce, clavicle, delude, beget, castigate, life caching, convoluted and 478 more...
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Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
veritable, incongruence, rigamorole, letcherous, revolting, repulsive, reputrid, rapatious, forays, guise, placate, paradigm and 1162 more...
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Worthy Wordie
words learnt from the Internet
unthink, meme, logophile, netiquette, onomatopoeia, singularity, oed, johnson's dictionary, man friday, lewis carroll, ontology, pro bono and 143 more...
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My Revised GRE Preparation List
Words from the new GRE : This list consists mostly of words from the book Magoosh-GRE-vocab-ebook, which is one of the best vocab materials available, especially if you have started preparing one ...
alacrity, prosaic, veracity, paucity, contrite, trite, maintain, laconic, pugnacious, disparate, egregious, innocuous and 533 more...
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Naresh_Gre
The path meanders through the vineyards
meander, labyrinth, Sinuous, gyrate, caron, awry, credo, banter, juxtaposition, argot, inexorable, foibles and 223 more...
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Big Book #2 List
absolution, restitution, contrition, moratorium, nautical, nirvana, pandemonium, perennial, symposium, dialectic, dipsomaniacal, ecumenical and 117 more...
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SAT PSAT ALPHABETICAL E
ebb, ebullition, eccentric, ecclesiastical, echelon, éclat, eclectic, eclogue, ecstasy, ecumenical, edification, edify and 143 more...
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Units Of Language
Word:
-a unit of language consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their written representation, that functions as a principal carrier of meaning.sulk, promenade, skulk, idle, subsequently, moody, paroxysm, felony, anent, generic, hallucinogen, synaesthesia and 215 more...
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Sat Vocabulary List
abandon, abash, abate, abjure, ablution, abnegate, abominable, aboriginal, abortive, abrade, abridge, abrogate and 2155 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for effeminate.
uselessness You mean like that thing Richard Simmons does? Probably best as an intransitive, seeing as how it affect us all indirectly... ;-) Sep 17, 2007
reesetee Hmm...interesting concept.... Sep 17, 2007
npydyuan Has anyone ever seen this used as a transitive verb? Sep 17, 2007