misogynistic
Americanadjective
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reflecting or exhibiting hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women.
-
reflecting or exhibiting ingrained and institutionalized prejudice against women; sexist.
misogynistic attitudes stemming from the highest corporate level.
Etymology
Origin of misogynistic
First recorded in 1820–25; misogynist ( def. ) + -ic ( def. )
Explanation
The adjective misogynistic is good for describing a dislike or hatred of women, or a deep-rooted bias against women in particular. If you describe a song's lyrics as being misogynistic, it means that they display an ugly hatred of women. A religion can be called misogynistic if it treats women as less human than men, and an employer might be accused of being misogynistic if he only promotes men in his company. The word is comprised of the Greek words miso, "hatred," and gyne, "women."
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.
She made that abundantly clear in an op-ed for the New York Times that also criticized the series for what she claims is a misogynistic portrayal of her younger self.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2026
In East's view, "it's almost surprising that boys can come out without these misogynistic attitudes given the diet that they're being fed on a daily basis in terms of what they're consuming online".
From BBC • Mar. 5, 2026
In a well-reported case last year, a group of feminist artist-activists vandalised a 19th-Century painting of a woman's vulva by French artist Gustave Courbet, calling it misogynistic.
From BBC • Jan. 9, 2026
She added: "Today's strategy rightly recognises the scale of this challenge and the need to address the misogynistic attitudes that underpin it, but the level of investment to achieve this falls seriously short."
From BBC • Dec. 17, 2025
And, vain peacock that I was, I rather liked to think of Peter going through life 226 mourning for me, alone and melancholy and misogynistic for the rest of his days!
From The Prairie Child by Ward. E. F. (Edmund Franklin)
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.
