virility
Americannoun
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virilities
plural
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the state or quality of being virile; manly character, vigor, or spirit; masculinity.
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the power of procreation.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of virility
1580–90; < Latin virīlitās, equivalent to virīli ( s ) virile + -tās -ty 2
Explanation
Virility is a fancy word for "manliness." You could demonstrate your virility by lifting a minivan, but why be a show-off? Your virility also means that you'll need a minivan to cart around your many children. The Latin virīlitās, from vir, or "a man," is the base for the word virility. You can also use virility to refer to "macho" qualities that might seem to reflect outdated notions of masculinity. French feminist author Simone de Beauvoir once wrote, "No one is more arrogant toward women, more aggressive or scornful, than the man who is anxious about his virility.”
Vocabulary lists containing virility
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager
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Martin Eden
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Blink
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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.
See Examples For:
But behind the staged virility lies a ruler unusually preoccupied with bodily decline.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
What McCarthy discovers is that in a society obsessed with male bravado, one that far too often values virility above vulnerability, it’s the knocking down of emotional walls that enables male friendships to thrive.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 25, 2026
But it’s also part of Netflix’s “rise and fall” true crime genre, cautioning against believing in figures like Johnson, who hooks young men by flogging a version of caveman masculinity that associates virility with dominance.
From Salon ● Jun. 1, 2025
Chakwera and Biya used very different approaches to tackle the rumours about illnesses, but they had a similar intent - to project, and protect, an image of strength and virility.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2024
He, after all, had no standards of manliness, of virility, to complicate his pride.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
But, within weeks, he was at work on a chipper mural for the men’s lounge at Radio City Music Hall: orchestrated virilities of smoking, card playing, motoring, horse racing, sailing, and a barber pole.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 13, 2016
And so, toward the end of his year, he was physically not far from where he had been on coming to Deutschland for the sake of its inspiring virilities.
From Villa Elsa A Story of German Family Life by Stuart Oliver Henry
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.
