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masculinize

American  
[mas-kyuh-luh-nahyz] / ˈmæs kjə ləˌnaɪz /
especially British, masculinise

verb (used with object)

  • masculinizes,
    present (3rd person singular)
  • masculinized,
    past participle,  past
  • masculinizing
    present participle
  1. Medicine/Medical. to produce certain male secondary sex characteristics in (a female).

  2. to make masculine in character, quality, or appearance.

    The presence of two large leather sofas seemed to masculinize the whole room.


masculinize British  
/ ˈmæskjʊlɪnˌaɪz /

verb

  1. to make or become masculine, esp to cause (a woman) to show male secondary sexual characteristics as a result of taking steroids

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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Present

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Etymology

Origin of masculinize

First recorded in 1920–25; masculine + -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:

In these conditions, the androgens cannot masculinize the brain or the body, despite the XY genetic makeup.

From Scientific American Jul. 27, 2013

And some of that is then changed into estradiol, which goes on to masculinize the brain.

From Scientific American Jul. 26, 2013

Puzzling as it may seem, moreover, low levels of estrogen feminize the brain, whereas high levels masculinize it.

From Scientific American Jul. 26, 2013

Those destined to become males differentiate from the master template after a complex series of hormonal secretions starts to masculinize the embryo.

From Time Magazine Archive

V. masculinize Adj. male, he-, masculine; manly, virile; unwomanly, unfeminine.

From Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases by Peter Mark Roget

"The study highlights for the first time the association between fetal testosterone and autistic traits and indicates that fetal testosterone not only masculinizes the body; it masculinizes the mind," he says.

From Time Magazine Archive

For example, females born in litters with many males become masculinized, likely from the high testosterone levels in the mother’s uterus.

From Salon Oct. 23, 2024

“Some of their behaviors are heavily masculinized, and others are not.”

From National Geographic Feb. 8, 2024

Losty pinned the lack of progress in mental health on the masculinized nature of the industry, and da Silva said the topic is still “taboo” in racing.

From Seattle Times May 23, 2023

But, because hormones surge dramatically at puberty, their genitals become masculinized, and they develop male-typical characteristics, including a penis, deep voice, male-pattern public hair and male-typed muscle mass.

From Scientific American Oct. 29, 2018

As noted above, Riddle discovered that his more feminine female pigeons were often killed by a dose of testicular extract which was practically harmless to a partially masculinized female.

From Taboo and Genetics A Study of the Biological, Sociological and Psychological Foundation of the Family by Melvin Moses Knight

For masculinizing gender reassignment, it was 21.16% of patients before and 54.5% after.

From The Wall Street Journal Apr. 16, 2026

If they decide to move forward with a medical gender transition, they may take some combination of hormones—estrogen for feminizing effects or testosterone for masculinizing effects—to experience puberty that aligns with their gender.

From Scientific American May 1, 2023

I’m 27 and nonbinary, and I’ve been on masculinizing HRT for about a year now.

From Slate Mar. 11, 2021

“Steroids” in this Washington Post report refers to anabolic androgenic steroids — “anabolic” means muscle-building and “androgenic” means masculinizing.

From Washington Post

Dr. Huggins has helped to make variants of the natural hormones, substances that have little or no feminizing effect on men or masculinizing effect on women.

From Time Magazine Archive

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