Meanings
comparative more unmasculine · superlative most unmasculine
- Not masculine; not characteristic of, typical of, or appropriate for a man, unmanly.
A fag is profoundly unmasculine, yet possesses the ability to penetrate and thus render any boy unmasculine.
2007, C. J. Pascoe, Dude, You’re a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 1572 more examples
Characteristics labeled as unmasculine or as failure to conform to gender expectations include observable behaviors such as avoidance of rough-and-tumble play, typical boys' games, and athletic activities; no imagining of oneself as a sports figure; and no desire to grow up to be like one's father.
1998, Ritch Williams-Savin, …And Then I Became Gay: Young Men's Stories, Routledge, →ISBNFusionism, Hammer said, is “inherently effete, limp, and, as Hillsdale College’s David Azerrad might say, unmasculine.”
2021 December 1, David French, “The New Right’s Strange and Dangerous Cult of Toughness”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 03 Dec 2021
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*né
- Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
- Proto-Germanic*un-
- Proto-West Germanic*un-
- Old Englishun-
- Middle Englishun-
- Englishun-
- Englishmasculine
- Englishunmasculine
Translations
Dutch onmannelijk
- onmannelijkunmasculine
Finnish epämiehekäs, epämaskuliininen
- epämiehekäsunmasculine
- epämaskuliininenunmasculine
German unmännlich
- unmännlichunmasculine
Cite this entry
unmasculine. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unmasculine
“unmasculine.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unmasculine. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unmasculine,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unmasculine.
Source: unmasculine on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.