machismo
Americannoun
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a strong or exaggerated sense of manliness; an assumptive attitude that virility, courage, strength, and entitlement to dominate are attributes or concomitants of masculinity.
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a strong or exaggerated sense of power or the right to dominate.
The military campaign was an exercise in national machismo.
noun
Etymology
Origin of machismo
Explanation
The noun machismo describes a quality of manliness that goes way over the top: think the big-armed character Bluto from "Popeye." The overblown masculinity of a manly man is what machismo is all about. A professional wrestler, with his over-developed, muscular body, has machismo, and so does a tough Marine who believes that real men never cry. Machismo comes from the word macho, which in Spanish simply means "male," but in English has had connotations of machismo since the 1920s, when it was first used to mean "tough guy."
Vocabulary lists containing machismo
Bill Withers (1938–2020) Tribute List
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The Fault in Our Stars
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Friday Night Lights
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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.
He never rose beyond private first class during a 1950s stint in the military, but he projected so much machismo that he seemed born to wear an officer’s uniform.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 16, 2026
More character actor than leading man, he could be relied upon to inject a feisty, fiery machismo and a cantankerous contrariness into the most mainstream Hollywood offering.
From BBC • Feb. 16, 2026
The Canadian Indian actor Graham Greene has sharp gifts for comedy and machismo that weren’t fully exploited in the movie that made him famous, “Dances With Wolves.”
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 1, 2025
A true bro cultivates a harsh, insouciant machismo.
From Salon • Aug. 16, 2025
It’s a new technothriller stocked with laser-guided weapons, gunboats, all flavors of machismo.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
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.
