feminize
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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feminizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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feminized,
past participle, past
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feminizing
present participle
verb
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to make or become feminine
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to cause (a male animal) to develop female characteristics
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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defeminizationnoun
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feminizationnoun
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overfeminizeverb
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defeminizeverb (used with object)
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unfeminizeverb (used with object)
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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feminizesimple
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feminizessimple
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have feminizedperfect
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has feminizedperfect
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am feminizingprogressive
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are feminizingprogressive
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is feminizingprogressive
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have been feminizingperfect progressive
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has been feminizingperfect progressive
Past
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feminizedsimple
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had feminizedperfect
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was feminizingprogressive
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were feminizingprogressive
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had been feminizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of feminize
1645–55; < Latin fēmin ( a ) woman + -ize
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:
For transsexual reasons that don’t belong in this essay, I want to feminize my face.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2022
My goal had been to feminize my appearance and prevent any further masculinization.
From Slate ● Sep. 12, 2018
Being a big-boned gal with broad shoulders, I knew a fuller bust line would detract from that and feminize my appearance even more.
From Salon ● Sep. 1, 2018
“To feminize politics, to me, implies to have more coöperative ways of working that actually allow you to combine professional and private life,” Colau said.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 6, 2018
Other research groups had seen evidence that atrazine can demasculinize — and in some instances feminize — exposed animals.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 2, 2010
Achillia, her opponent, was a feminized version of Achilles.
From Salon ● Nov. 26, 2024
“Jacobean style as menswear was becoming feminized in many ways,” but French fashion in the 1770s turned the gender fluidity dial further.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2024
Designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana feminized the menswear silhouettes this season, with tailoring tricks long deployed for women.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 17, 2023
The response essay, written by Dorothy R. Santos, an expert on voice recognition, explores the cultural baggage behind our obsession with feminized A.I.
From Slate ● Oct. 29, 2022
For Paris the lily stands, the conventionalized, feminized lily; but London is a lion, a shag-headed, heavy-pawed British lion.
From Europe Revised by Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury) Cobb
“It normalizes the experience without necessarily feminizing it.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
"Determining which specific compounds can change the hatchling sex ratios is important for developing strategies to prevent pollutants from further feminizing sea turtle populations," Dr van de Merwe added.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 13, 2023
Women who are transgender and take feminizing hormones can also have dense breasts, which may increase their chances of developing breast cancer somewhat.
From Scientific American ● Apr. 10, 2023
Asked about fairness at a news conference in Tokyo, the IOC’s medical and scientific director referenced the effects of feminizing hormone therapy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2021
As the girl’s gender identity was firmly established as female at the time her condition was discovered, a decision to implement feminizing surgery along with corresponding hormonal treatments seems correct.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
