virility

[vuh-ril-i-tee]

noun

1. the state or quality of being virile; manly character, vigor, or spirit; masculinity.

2. the power of procreation.

Other Word Forms

• nonvirility noun
• ultravirility noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of virility¹

1580–90; < Latin virīlitās, equivalent to virīli ( s ) virile + -tās -ty ²

Example Sentences

Mr. Strong’s Oedipus is a commanding figure, exuding virility and seeming to tower over everyone around him, a pillar of rectitude and confidence.

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In place of fermented grapes stood yellow rice wine, incendiary sorghum liquor and, if the night was long enough, out came a bottle of the latter infused with snake bile, promising virility.

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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.

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To those men, as one commander’s wife blithely puts it in the sixth season, virility is power.

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Chocolate, which was once a symbol of power and virility, took on more feminine connotations once women could enjoy it.

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Related Words

• manhood 
• potency 
• vigor