virility
Americannoun
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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 You can also use virility to refer to "macho" qualities that might seem to reflect outdated notions of masculinity.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.
Male infertility can often be mixed up with ideas of virility and masculinity, making it more difficult for some men to acknowledge or discuss the problem.
From BBC • Jun. 26, 2026
But behind the staged virility lies a ruler unusually preoccupied with bodily decline.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026
Still, experts say the Grinch’s 2025 glow-up likely owes as much to holiday exhaustion and broad consumer pessimism as it does vertical video virility.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 25, 2025
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
A fitness buff, he would often drop to the floor of the Caltech dining hall or other public areas and do one-armed pushups to demonstrate his virility to anyone who seemed inclined to doubt it.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
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.
