emasculate

[ih-mas-kyuh-leyt, ih-mas-kyuh-lit, -leyt]

verb (used with object)

emasculated, emasculating 

1. to deprive of strength; weaken.

   The law was emasculated by its opponents, making it largely ineffective by the time it was passed.

   Synonyms: soften, devitalize, undermine, debilitate

2. to make (a man) feel less masculine.

   Though some men might feel emasculated not making an income, I'm very happy as a stay-at-home father.

3. to remove the testicles of; castrate.

adjective

1. deprived of or lacking strength or vigor; effeminate.

emasculate

verb

1. to remove the testicles of; castrate; geld

2. to deprive of vigour, effectiveness, etc

3. botany to remove the stamens from (a flower) to prevent self-pollination for the purposes of plant breeding

adjective

1. castrated; gelded

2. deprived of strength, effectiveness, etc

Other Word Forms

• emasculative adjective
• emasculation noun
• emasculator noun
• emasculatory adjective
• self-emasculation noun
• unemasculated adjective
• unemasculative adjective
• unemasculatory adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of emasculate¹

First recorded in 1600–10; from Latin ēmasculātus (past participle of ēmasculāre ), equivalent to ē- “from”+ māscul(us) “male” + -ātus adjective suffix; e- ¹, male, -ate ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of emasculate¹

C17: from Latin ēmasculāre, from masculus male; see _masculine

Example Sentences

That dynamic was taboo for generations of Americans who feared it might emasculate men and ruin couples’ romantic lives.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

"The only way the swag gap wouldn't be problematic was if the partner with less swag was a cheerleader for their partner and proud of them rather than emasculated or resentful."

Read more on BBC

Adrift and emasculated, Stan is less a patriarch than the defeated captain of a sinking ship, drowning in his futility.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

But that caveat is drowned out by the hyperbolic and highly gendered language that frames empathy as emasculating.

Read more on Salon

In fact, I think those gendered stereotypes — Americans as virile and manly; Europeans as emasculated or effeminate — go back much further than that, and were inhaled by nearly all American men of Trump’s generation.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• vitiate