Webster
✕

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Effeminate

Ef·fem′i·nate (ĕf·fĕm′ĭ·nāt), 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.

The king, by his voluptuous life and mean marriage, became effeminate, and less sensible of honor. Bacon.

An effeminate and unmanly foppery. Bp. Hurd.

2. Womanlike; womanly; tender; — in a good sense.

Gentle, kind, effeminate remorse. Shak.

☞ Effeminate and womanish are generally used in a reproachful sense; feminine and womanly, applied to women, are epithets of propriety or commendation.

Ef·fem′i·nate (·nāt), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Effeminated; p. pr. & vb. n. Effeminating.] To make womanish; to make soft and delicate; to weaken.

It will not corrupt or effeminate children's minds. Locke.

Ef·fem′i·nate, v. i. To grow womanish or weak.

In a slothful peace both courage will effeminate and manners corrupt. Pope.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.