Effeminate

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  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}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  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