femininity

  • 1Femininity — (also called womanliness) refers to qualities and behaviors judged by a particular culture to be ideally associated with or especially appropriate to women and girls. Distinct from femaleness, which is a biological and physiological… …

    Wikipedia

  • 2Femininity — Fem i*nin i*ty, n. 1. The quality or nature of the female sex; womanliness. [1913 Webster] 2. The female form. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] O serpent under femininitee. Chaucer. [1913 Webster] …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 3femininity — late 14c., femynynytee, from FEMININE (Cf. feminine) + ITY (Cf. ity) …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 4femininity — / feminine [n/adj] womanly effeminate, effete, fertile, gender, gynic, womanhood, womanish, womanliness; concepts 371,372,408,648 Ant. masculinity …

    New thesaurus

  • 5femininity — [[t]fe̱mɪnɪ̱nɪti[/t]] 1) N UNCOUNT A woman s femininity is the fact that she is a woman. ...the drudgery behind the ideology of motherhood and femininity. Ant: masculinity 2) N UNCOUNT Femininity means the qualities that are considered to be… …

    English dictionary

  • 6femininity — A summary term, contrasted with masculinity , for the distinctive ways of acting and feeling on the part of women. Precisely what characteristics are listed varies, though passivity, dependence, and weakness are usually mentioned. Sociologists… …

    Dictionary of sociology

  • 7femininity — feminineness, feminism, femininity These are the only survivors from a whole host of 19c formations which also included feminacy, feminality, feminility, and femininitude (the last a nonce word used in 1878). Feminineness and femininity have much …

    Modern English usage

  • 8femininity — fem|i|nin|i|ty [ˌfemıˈnınıti] n [U] qualities that are considered to be typical of women, especially qualities that are gentle, delicate, and pretty →↑masculinity ▪ You don t have to lose your femininity to be an independent, successful woman …

    Dictionary of contemporary English

  • 9femininity — noun (U) qualities that are considered to be typical of women, especially qualities that are gentle, delicate, and pretty: Different cultures often have different concepts of femininity and masculinity …

    Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • 10femininity — feminine ► ADJECTIVE 1) having qualities traditionally associated with women, especially delicacy and prettiness. 2) female. 3) Grammar referring to a gender of nouns and adjectives, conventionally regarded as female. ► NOUN (the feminine) ▪ the… …

    English terms dictionary