Synonyms for effeminate
- adjective
Most common
Definitions
- adj. 1
Womanly; tender, affectionate, caring.
Related words
- Word family
- effeminateness
- Phrases
- effeminate man
Choose the right word
The word effeminate is always used reproachfully, and only of men as possessing womanly traits such as are inconsistent with true manliness.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- feminine Cat is masculine in Berber and feminine in German.
- girly Layla was a girly girl, but she also loved sports.
- homosexual I knew you were a repressed homosexual all along.
- effete The critics dismissed the film as an effete imitation of earlier, bolder works.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| effeminate | rising | |
| feminine | rising | |
| girly | rising | |
| unmanly | rising | |
| emasculate | falling | |
| homosexual | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- camp1, soft1, weak1
- 5 letters
- girly, sissy2, swish1
- 6 letters
- effete2
- 7 letters
- womanly, unmanly, epicene
- 8 letters
- delicate3, feminine3, womanish, sissyish
- 9 letters
- sissified
- 10 letters
- homosexual5, emasculate4
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (sissy2 = 2 syllables).