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effeminate
ef·fem·i·nate
/
adj.
ɪˈfɛm
ə
nɪt;
v.
ɪˈfɛm
əˌneɪt
/
Show Spelled
[
adj.
ih-
fem
-
uh
-nit;
v.
ih-
fem
-
uh
-neyt
]
Show IPA
adjective,
verb,
ef·fem·i·nat·ed,
ef·fem·i·nat·ing.
adjective
1.
(of a man or boy) having traits, tastes, habits, etc., traditionally considered feminine, as softness or delicacy.
2.
characterized by excessive softness, delicacy, self-indulgence, etc.:
effeminate luxury.
verb (used with object),
verb
(used without object)
3.
to make or become effeminate.
Origin:
1350–1400;
Middle English
<
Latin
effēminātus,
equivalent to
ef-
ef-
+
fēmin
(
a
) woman +
-ātus
-ate
1
Related forms
ef·fem·i·nate·ly,
adverb
ef·fem·i·nate·ness,
noun
ef·fem·i·na·tion,
noun
un·ef·fem·i·nate,
adjective
un·ef·fem·i·nate·ly,
adverb
Can be confused:
effeminate,
effete
,
feminine
,
womanish
,
womanly
(see synonym study at
womanly
).
Synonyms
1.
See
female
.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
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effeminate
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Collins
World English Dictionary
effeminate
(ɪˈfɛmɪnɪt)
—
adj
1.
(of a man or boy) displaying characteristics regarded as typical of a woman; not manly
2.
lacking firmness or vigour:
an effeminate piece of writing
[C14: from Latin
effēmināre
to make into a woman, from
fēmina
woman]
ef'feminacy
—
n
ef'feminateness
—
n
ef'feminately
—
adv
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
effeminate
early 15c., from L. effeminatus, pp. of effeminare "make a woman of," from ex- "out" + femina "woman" (see
feminine
). Rarely used without reproach.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Matching Quote
"Scholars and thinkers are prone to an
effeminate
habit, and shrink if a coarser shout comes up from the street, or a brutal act is recorded in the journals. The Medical College piles up in its museum its grim monsters of morbid anatomy, and there are melancholy skeptics with a taste for carrion who batten on the hideous facts in history,—persecutions, inquisitions, St. Bartholomew, massacres, devilish lives, Nero, Caesar Borgia, Marat, Lopez; men in whom every ray of humanity was extinguished, patricides, matricides and whatever moral monsters. These are not cheerful facts, but they do not disturb a healthy mind; they require of us a patience as robust as the energy that attacks us, and an unresting exploration of final causes."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
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