masculinity
Americannoun
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masculinities
plural
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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anti-masculinitynoun
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hypermasculinitynoun
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nonmasculinitynoun
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pseudo-masculinitynoun
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supermasculinitynoun
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Explanation
Masculinity is the quality of manliness — habits and traits that society considers to be appropriate for a man. While certain jobs and professions have traditionally been associated with masculinity, like the military and firefighting, for example, these associations have begun to change as more women have pursued those types of careers. Some typical traits of masculinity include physical strength, a muscular body, and facial hair. The Latin root of masculinity is masculinus, "male," which comes from masculus, or "worthy of a male."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Comic actors have a sense of timing and an ability to ad-lib when the teleprompter spits out duds, as John Mulaney proved with his inspired rant about masculinity when he presented.
From Salon ● Sep. 15, 2026
Gender expectations and masculinity are not the only element at play, Dr Britto says.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
There was a celebration at the return of a certain kind of masculinity, “Welcome Back, Duke.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
We get to see a different side of Paul Baker this season with his other friend group, who embody this exaggerated, bro-y masculinity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2026
Societies attribute masculinity to different genres of music, instruments, and what musicians should look like when performing.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
There is not, for example, enough deep research on African American masculinities, Latino masculinities, poor masculinities or rural masculinities.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 3, 2023
It is virtually absent from the scholarship on men and masculinities that developed rapidly from the mid-1970s, though its use in that area has increased in the last decade.
From Salon ● Oct. 8, 2022
We were all dressed in suits, and some of us who were more effeminate or more borderless in our construction of Black masculinities were put into this very respectable kind of presentation.
From New York Times ● Sep. 16, 2022
Against this backdrop a movement focused on "healthy masculinities" has gained momentum.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2021
But there were frivolities in the education of women then which were almost as conspicuous as are the masculinities that have since taken their place.
From A Captain in the Ranks A Romance of Affairs by George Cary Eggleston
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
