Definition for EF-FEM'IN-ATE

EF-FEM'IN-ATE, a. [L. effœminatus, from effœminor, to grow or make womanish, from fœmina, a woman. See Woman.]

  1. Having the qualities of the female sex; soft or delicate to an unmanly degree; tender; womanish; voluptuous. The king, by his voluptuous life and mean marriage, became effeminate, and less sensible of honor. Bacon.
  2. Womanish; weak; resembling the practice or qualities of the sex; as, an effeminate peace; an effeminate life.
  3. Womanlike, tender, in a sense not reproachful. Shak.

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