Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To take away characteristics traditionally associated with masculinity, such as courage or strength.
  • transitive verb To take away virility from; emasculate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To deprive of the character or qualities of a human being, as reason, etc.
  • To emasculate; deprive of virility.
  • To deprive of the courage and fortitude of a man; break or reduce into irresolution; dishearten; deject; make womanish.
  • To deprive of men: as, to unman a ship or town.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb rare To deprive of the distinctive qualities of a human being, as reason, or the like.
  • transitive verb To emasculate; to deprive of virility.
  • transitive verb To deprive of the courage and fortitude of a man; to break or subdue the manly spirit in; to cause to despond; to dishearten; to make womanish.
  • transitive verb To deprive of men.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb archaic To castrate; to remove one's manhood.
  • verb To sap the strength, whether physical or emotional, required to deal with a situation.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb cause to lose one's nerve

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word unman.

Examples

  • Gavanelli, in contrast, stands and delivers and keeps his gaze in a middle distance as if to look the dying young woman in the eye would melt his cold heart and unman him.

    Antonio Meneses and Maria João Pires; La traviata – review 2012

  • To remind them now of the meals they made of me would mortify and unman them, so I keep that silence.

    The Best American Poetry 2010 Amy Gerstler 2010

  • But one of them, the Orakzai Pathan (for nothing could completely unman him), shouted to know whether it was true that pardons had been offered for deserters, and Courtenay nodded.

    In The Time Of Light dj barber 2010

  • Seeing that she was about to unman him again as she tried to leap up, this time he all but threw her off his lap and then immediately rolled to the side and sprang to his feet.

    Dragon Warrior Janet Chapman 2010

  • Seeing that she was about to unman him again as she tried to leap up, this time he all but threw her off his lap and then immediately rolled to the side and sprang to his feet.

    Dragon Warrior Janet Chapman 2010

  • Seeing that she was about to unman him again as she tried to leap up, this time he all but threw her off his lap and then immediately rolled to the side and sprang to his feet.

    Dragon Warrior Janet Chapman 2010

  • Seeing that she was about to unman him again as she tried to leap up, this time he all but threw her off his lap and then immediately rolled to the side and sprang to his feet.

    Dragon Warrior Janet Chapman 2010

  • To remind them now of the meals they made of me would mortify and unman them, so I keep that silence.

    The Best American Poetry 2010 Amy Gerstler 2010

  • To remind them now of the meals they made of me would mortify and unman them, so I keep that silence.

    The Best American Poetry 2010 Amy Gerstler 2010

  • Moreover, when you unman your intervention, you may show that you care, but you also reveal that you don't care enough.

    Wired Top Stories 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.