Effeminate \Ef*fem"i*nate\, a. [L. effeminatus, p. p. of
effeminare to make a woman of; ex out + femina a woman. See
Feminine, a.]
1. Having some characteristic of a woman, as delicacy,
luxuriousness, etc.; soft or delicate to an unmanly
degree; womanish; weak.
[1913 Webster]
The king, by his voluptuous life and mean marriage,
became effeminate, and less sensible of honor.
--Bacon.
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An effeminate and unmanly foppery. --Bp. Hurd.
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2. Womanlike; womanly; tender; -- in a good sense.
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Gentle, kind, effeminate remorse. --Shak.
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Note: Effeminate and womanish are generally used in a
reproachful sense; feminine and womanly, applied to
women, are epithets of propriety or commendation.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Effeminate \Ef*fem"i*nate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Effeminated;
p. pr. & vb. n. Effeminating.]
To make womanish; to make soft and delicate; to weaken.
[1913 Webster]
It will not corrupt or effeminate children's minds.
--Locke.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Effeminate \Ef*fem"i*nate\, v. i.
To grow womanish or weak.
[1913 Webster]
In a slothful peace both courage will effeminate and
manners corrupt. --Pope.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
effeminate
adj 1: having unsuitable feminine qualities [syn: emasculate, epicene,
cissy, sissified, sissyish, sissy]
2: characterized by excessive softness or self-indulgence; "an
effeminate civilization" [syn: weak]
WordNet (r) 2.0
60 Moby Thesaurus words for "effeminate":
AC-DC, amphierotic, autoerotic, bent, bisexed, bisexual, breakable,
brittle, butch, campy, cheap-jack, chicken, cobwebby, crumbly,
dainty, delicate, delicately weak, deviant, flimsy, fragile, frail,
frangible, gay, gimcrack, gimcracky, gossamery, homoerotic,
homosexual, jerry, jerry-built, lesbian, light, lightweight,
mannish, muliebrous, namby-pamby, old-womanish, papery,
pasteboardy, perverted, prissy, puny, queer, sapphic, shattery,
sissified, sissy, sissyish, sleazy, slight, soft, tacky,
transvestite, tribadistic, unmanly, unsubstantial, weak, wispy,
womanish, womanly
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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