effeminacy
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of effeminacy
First recorded in 1595–1605; effemin(ate) + -acy
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.
Dandyism’s persistent associations with criminality, effeminacy and homosexuality would achieve notoriety in Oscar Wilde’s 1895 trials.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 15, 2026
Warhol also embraced camp as a personal style, performing a theatrical effeminacy that equated to a strategic queerness designed to discomfit those among his contemporaries who held him to be "too swish."
From Salon • Feb. 19, 2022
Through his balletic gait and florid presentation, Mercury rubbed the nose of Live Aid’s global audience in a powerful brand of effeminacy, seducing them into adoring something they might otherwise view with contempt.
From New York Times • Nov. 9, 2018
With Abe and his effeminacy, Chabon is all patience.
From Slate • May 17, 2018
Little touches of effeminacy about his dress failed to take the attention away from its shabbiness.
From A Woman of Genius by Austin, Mary Hunter
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.
