feminine
Americanadjective
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being or relating to to a woman or girl.
feminine beauty;
feminine dress.
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having qualities traditionally ascribed to women, such as sensitivity or gentleness.
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effeminate; womanish.
Growing up, he had been told he had a feminine walk.
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Grammar. noting or pertaining to that one of the three genders of Latin, Greek, German, etc., or one of the two genders of French, Spanish, Hebrew, etc., having among its members most nouns referring to females, as well as other nouns, as Latin stella “star,” or German Zeit “time.”
noun
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the feminine gender.
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a noun or other element in or marking the feminine gender.
adjective
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suitable to or characteristic of a woman
a feminine fashion
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possessing qualities or characteristics considered typical of or appropriate to a woman
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effeminate; womanish
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grammar
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denoting or belonging to a gender of nouns, occurring in many inflected languages, that includes all kinds of referents as well as some female animate referents
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( as noun )
German Zeit ``time'' and Ehe ``marriage'' are feminines
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Synonym Usage
See female.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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antifemininenessnoun
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femininenessnoun
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hyperfemininenessnoun
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antifeminineadjective
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half-feminineadjective
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hyperfeminineadjective
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overfeminineadjective
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pseudofeminineadjective
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superfeminineadjective
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ultrafeminineadjective
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unfeminineadjective
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antifemininelyadverb
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femininelyadverb
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hyperfemininelyadverb
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overfemininelyadverb
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unfemininelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of feminine
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English femynyn(e), from Anglo-French, Old French: feminine of adjective feminin, from Latin fēminīnus, equivalent to fēmin(a) “woman” ( see fetus) + -īnus -ine 1
Explanation
Feminine is the opposite of masculine. If it has anything to do with girls and women, it's considered feminine. Anything feminine is associated with females. In American culture, that includes wearing pink, playing with dolls, sporting high heels, and getting weepy during sad movies. Many women find the traditional feminine roles to be sexist and limiting, while many men pick on each other for acting in a stereotypical feminine manner. But ideas about what is feminine are always changing: pants used to only be a masculine thing to wear, for example.
Vocabulary lists containing feminine
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:
This idea proposes that the evolution of larger human brains occurred alongside changes that made the human skeleton less robust and more physically feminine compared with those of earlier ancestors.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026
"Sometimes it's nice to take a step back from always being the one making decisions and simply enjoy feeling feminine and being looked after."
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
Toughening up the dress made it feel, to me, like armor: concealing more than it showed, feminine but not obviously sexy.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026
He can’t decide whether she is naive or sophisticated, an earthbound Midwestern girl or the incarnation of the eternal feminine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
Via the speakers, a feminine voice says, “Once again, this is a totally full flight. Please place personal items under your seat and use the first available overhead space for your larger carry-on.”
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Although made with contemporary means, Hill’s smeary feminines recall the sharper-edged experiments of Cubists and Futurists.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 25, 2016
The masculines end in -a, the feminines and neuters in -e.
From Anglo-Saxon Grammar and Exercise Book with Inflections, Syntax, Selections for Reading, and Glossary by Smith, C. Alphonso (Charles Alphonso)
All the other oldest relatives gradually dropt away, and 'that' came to be applied also to plural antecedents, and to masculines and feminines.
From The Verbalist A Manual Devoted to Brief Discussions of the Right and the Wrong Use of Words and to Some Other Matters of Interest to Those Who Would Speak and Write with Propriety. by Osmun, Thomas Embly
Under that standard march in the U.S. at least 20,000,000 feminines, and—horrible to relate—gal children are on the increase.
From Punchinello, Volume 2, No. 29, October 15, 1870 by Various
Of course we feminines, with nerves somewhat shattered from the events of the past week, were greatly alarmed.
From The Shirley Letters from California Mines in 1851-52 by Clappe, Louise Amelia Knapp Smith
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.
