unmanly

[uhn-man-lee]

adjective

unmanlier, unmanliest 

1. not manly; not characteristic of or befitting a man; weak, timid, or cowardly.

2. effeminate.

unmanly

/ ʌnˈmænlɪ /

adjective

1. not masculine or virile

2. ignoble, cowardly, or dishonourable

Other Word Forms

• unmanliness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of unmanly¹

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; un- ¹, manly

Example Sentences

Refusing animal products is seen as "weaker, homosexual, and unmanly," according to vegan and vegetarian respondents to a 2023 survey.

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They were prejudiced against Jews, whom they viewed as clannish grinds — and unmanly, morally deficient, grasping and unattractive to boot.

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Billy Briggs’s “The Sissy Song,” released in 1951, proposed killing oneself as the adequate response to such unmanly habits as wearing the “pretty suede shoes that a lot of those sissies buy” and eating salad.

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“A lot of them just experienced what was required in school as being unmanly,” he said, most noticeably among young men whose parents were low-income or had not been to college.

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It might be unmanly, but he couldn’t help it, and I am glad of it.

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Related Words

• unmanful www.thesaurus.com
• unmanlike www.thesaurus.com