femininity

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fem·i·nine

(fĕm′ə-nĭn)

adj.

1. Of or relating to women or girls.

2. Characterized by or possessing qualities traditionally attributed to women, such as demureness.

3. Effeminate; womanish.

4. Grammar Relating or belonging to the gender of words or forms that refer chiefly to females or to things grammatically classified as female.

n. Grammar

1. The feminine gender.

2. A word or form belonging to the feminine gender.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin fēminīnus, from fēmina, woman; see dhē(i)- in Indo-European roots.]

fem′i·nine·ly adv.

fem′i·nine·ness, fem′i·nin′i·ty (-nĭn′ĭ-tē) n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

femininity

(ˌfɛmɪˈnɪnɪtɪ)

1. the quality of being feminine

2. womanhood

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

fem•i•nin•i•ty

(ˌfɛm əˈnɪn ɪ ti)

n.

1. the quality of being feminine; womanliness.

2. women collectively.

3. effeminacy.

Sometimes, fe•min•i•ty (fɪˈmɪn ɪ ti)

[1350–1400]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

femininity - the trait of behaving in ways considered typical for women

muliebrity

trait - a distinguishing feature of your personal nature

womanlike, womanliness - the trait of being womanly; having the characteristics of an adult female

ladylikeness - behavior befitting a lady

maidenliness - behavior befitting a young maiden

girlishness - being characteristic of a girl

effeminacy, effeminateness, sissiness, unmanliness, womanishness, softness - the trait of being effeminate (derogatory of a man); "the students associated science with masculinity and arts with effeminacy"; "Spartans accused Athenians of effeminateness"; "he was shocked by the softness of the atmosphere surrounding the young prince, arising from the superfluity of the femininity that guided him"

masculinity - the trait of behaving in ways considered typical for men

femininity

noun womanliness, delicacy, softness, womanhood, gentleness, girlishness, feminineness, muliebrity the drudgery behind the ideology of motherhood and femininity

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

femininity

noun

1. The quality or condition of being feminine:

femaleness, feminineness, womanliness.

2. Women in general:

distaff, muliebrity, womanhood, womankind, womenfolk.

3. The quality of being effeminate:

effeminacy, effeminateness, sissiness, unmanliness, womanishness.

Translations

أنوثَه

ženskost

femininitetkvindelighed

Weiblichkeit

féminité

kvenleiki

femminilit...femminilità

feminitet kvinnelighet

dişilikkadınlık

女人的气质

femininity

[ˌfemɪˈnɪnɪtɪ] N → feminidad f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

femininity

[ˌfɛmɪˈnɪnɪti] n → féminité f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

femininity

n → Weiblichkeit f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

femininity

[ˌfɛmɪˈnɪnɪtɪ] n → femminilità

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

feminine

(ˈfeminin) adjective

1. of a woman. a feminine voice.

2. with all the essential qualities of a woman. She was a very feminine person.

3. in certain languages, of one of usually two or three genders of nouns etc.

ˌfemiˈninity noun

the quality of being feminine. She never used her femininity to win the argument.

ˈfeminism noun

the thought and actions of people who want to make women's (legal, political, social etc) rights equal to those of men.

ˈfeminist noun

a supporter of feminism.

femininity

n. feminidad;

___ complex → complejo de ___.

References in classic literature ?

But the black satin hairbow also is femininity's demure, impersonal, common ornament, and tells no tales.

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Some of her belongings were scattered about his room, giving it a delicate air of femininity. The faint odour of her favourite and only perfume gave to her undoubted presence a wonderful sense of reality.

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[Looking at it.] A little lacking in femininity, Jane.

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The fleeting glimpse that he had had of her in the moonlight as she swung from the back of her plunging pony into the branches of the tree above her had shown him a girl of about the same height as his Meriem; but of a more rounded and developed femininity.

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She seemed to carry with her the concentrated essence of femininity. Her quiet movements, the almost noiseless rustling of her clothes, the quaint, undistinguishable perfumes which she used, her soft, even voice, were all things which seemed individual to her.

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He found her lying on the great polar-bear skin in their bedroom, half-undressed, for they were dining with the Greens in Wilton Crescent, the ruddy firelight making the diamonds wink and twinkle on her bare arms and in the delicious curve of her breast-- a vision of adorable femininity. He forgave her all.' (Well, this goes from bad to worse, and finally about fifty pages later, Hugh takes a week-end ticket to Swanage and 'has it out with himself on the downs above Corfe.' .

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He tried to convince himself that Tarzan was mistaken, and when he conjured upon the screen of recollection the face of the girl behind him, he was doubly reassured that those lines of sweet femininity and character, those clear and honest eyes, could not belong to one of the hated alien race.

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Tyler, Jr., I never yet had experienced the almost paralyzing fear for the safety of any other creature which now threw me alternately into a fever of despair and into a cold sweat of apprehension as my mind dwelt upon the fate on one bit of half-savage femininity of whose very existence even I had not dreamed a few short weeks before.

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As she passed by him he was acutely conscious of her femininity, though he saw by her face that she was sensual and feeble-minded.

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Owing to the shortage of women, many of the men tied bandanna handkerchiefs around their arms in token of femininity and danced with other men.

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Exposure to the sun had browned a smooth and velvety skin to a shade which seemed to enhance rather than mar an altogether lovely picture of youthful femininity.

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I continue: with such disposition what prevents women--to use the phrase an old boatswain of my acquaintance applied descriptively to his captain--what prevents them from "coming on deck and playing hell with the ship" generally, is that something in them precise and mysterious, acting both as restraint and as inspiration; their femininity in short which they think they can get rid of by trying hard, but can't, and never will.