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Webster's New World College Dictionary » masculinity
masculinity
Variant of masculine
masculine
definition
mas·cu·line (mas′kyo̵̅o̅ lin, -kyə-)
adjective
- male; of men or boys
- having qualities regarded as characteristic of men and boys, as strength, vigor, boldness, etc.; manly; virile
- suitable to or characteristic of a man
- mannish: said of women
- Gram. designating, of, or belonging to the gender of words denoting or referring to males, as well as many other words to which no distinction of sex is attributed
- Music designating or of a cadence ending on an accented note or chord
- Prosody
- ending with a stressed syllable, as a line of verse
- designating or of rhyme in which the rhyming elements are stressed final syllables (Ex.: hill, fill, enjoy, destroy)
Etymology: ME masculyn < OFr masculin < L masculinus < masculus, male < mas, male
noun
- the masculine gender
- a word or form in this gender
Related Forms:
- masculinely mas′·cu·linely adverb
- masculinity mas′·cu·lin′·ity noun
Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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