How to Use effeminate in a Sentence

effeminate

1 of 2 adjective
  • He had a high and somewhat effeminate voice.
  • Her father, eager to change his effeminate child’s ways, would drag the child to boxing matches.
    — Frances Robles, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2020
  • Here is a boy warrior, with a supple abdomen and bare bronze thighs, confident and effeminate.
    — Phil Melanson, Condé Nast Traveler, 21 June 2025
  • The effeminate boy with an interest in fashion gets to design the costumes.
    — Margaret Gray, latimes.com, 7 May 2018
  • There are fewer languid, sleek, effeminate bodies and more muscle.
    — Brian T. Allen, National Review, 19 Sep. 2020
  • There were twenty students, the article said, mostly effeminate boys and butch girls who had trouble fitting in at their old schools.
    — Masha Gessen, The New Yorker, 28 June 2019
  • Gay men, historically, have been made fun of and ridiculed for effeminate behavior or affect.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 20 June 2019
  • My parents viewed my reading as somewhat effeminate, but also subversive on some level.
    — Amy Sutherland, BostonGlobe.com, 2 May 2018
  • Malkovich played the role of Lee with a hilarious brand of violent, effeminate menace.
    — Michael Heaton, cleveland.com, 10 Aug. 2017
  • Phil initially teases Peter for being weak and effeminate.
    — Mathew Rodriguez, Them., 25 Sep. 2025
  • Another baddie, Fisheye, was an effeminate gay man who played with gender presentation.
    — Gabe Bergado, Teen Vogue, 30 June 2017
  • The two real throughlines to the show are lonely, somewhat cantankerous old stage hand Theodore and the effeminate costumer Brother Soiree.
    — Trevor Fraser, OrlandoSentinel.com, 21 May 2017
  • The ’80s hipster bore no resemblance to the bearded and effeminate cottage industrialist who came to prominence as the ‘hipster’ in the new century.
    — New York Times, 19 Aug. 2019
  • Later, the broadcasting regulator banned the depiction of gay characters or effeminate men on television.
    — Jeffrey Hutton, New York Times, 20 Dec. 2017
  • But like Manning, Shupe had entered the Army as an effeminate young man who would be traumatized by homophobia and transphobia in the military.
    — Mary Emily O'Hara, NBC News, 16 May 2017
  • Performing slightly effeminate blundering outrage — not playing gay, exactly, but not not gay either — Lynde set a pattern.
    — James Hibberd, EW.com, 19 May 2020
  • The term kothi applies to a broad category of people assigned male at birth who are effeminate to varying degrees and might engage in same-sex relationships, but do not live in separate communities.
    — Charles Preston, Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 May 2026
  • Smit-McPhee grew up in Melbourne not always fitting among the sporty boys at his school, a heterosexual young man with conspicuously effeminate traits.
    — Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 22 Nov. 2021
  • But while almost all effeminate guys are gay—so stigmatized is femininity in males (even in the gay community)—masculine swagger in women is less stigmatized and therefore somewhat less likely to correlate as strongly with lesbianism.
    — Dan Savage, Chicago Reader, 20 Dec. 2017
  • Hopkins' case resulted in a 6-3 victory in the Supreme Court and has been used to protect women, effeminate men and transgender people from discrimination.
    — Mia Galuppo, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Oct. 2019
  • Rory Scovel, as Renee's slightly effeminate boyfriend, is appealing, but his underwritten role gives him little to do other than bask in Renee's newfound fearlessness.
    — Leah Pickett, Chicago Reader, 20 Apr. 2018
  • Saturday Church is a musical coming-of-age film centered around 14-year-old Ulysses, a quiet, effeminate boy struggling with questions about his gender identity under the hawk-like eye of his conservative aunt.
    — Patrick Crowley, Billboard, 11 Jan. 2018
  • Throughout the 1900s, and even into the ‘80s and ’90s, women often were encouraged to be more effeminate, and male counterparts were told to embrace their masculinity.
    — Dallas Morning News, 29 Jan. 2026
  • Last year, this manifested itself in sudden and disruptive bans on online tutoring, campaigns against effeminate celebrities, on-and-off restrictions on burning coal and regulatory assaults on consumer Internet companies.
    — Greg Ip, WSJ, 5 Jan. 2022
  • One of the earliest of American masculinity influencers was President Theodore Roosevelt, who touted his own transformation from a timid, effeminate man – local presses mocked him in his early career – to a rugged outdoorsman.
    — Miriam Eve Mora, The Conversation, 3 Apr. 2026
  • Kevin’s 23 distinct alters include the effeminate fashionista Barry; the creepy neat freak Dennis; the matronly den mother Patricia; and an inquisitive, hip-hop-loving 9-year-old with a lisp named Hedwig.
    — Michael O'Sullivan, The Denver Post, 20 Jan. 2017

effeminate

2 of 2 noun
  • His father mocked his effeminate manner and beat him, and Richard fled home as a teen.
    — Thor Christensen, Dallas News, 9 May 2020
  • Girls saw in him a boy who was kind, empathetic and effeminate.
    — Matt Kempner, ajc, 22 June 2023
  • Weightlifting was for the circus or the effeminate; ladies didn’t perspire, much less sweat.
    — Katrina Gulliver, WSJ, 2 Jan. 2023
  • This means tackling the stigma faced by many men who do choose these roles as effeminate, or as professional failures.
    — Richard V. Reeves, Time, 19 Oct. 2022
  • Some of the reasons include stigma, shame and being perceived as effeminate.
    — Sean Loughran, Washington Post, 27 May 2022
  • As the story unfolds, Phil’s disdain for Rose and her effeminate son drive Rose to drink.
    — Marc Malkin, Variety, 13 Nov. 2021
  • The film follows a young man named Oskar who is frequently bullied for being effeminate.
    — Kyle Turner, Teen Vogue, 31 Oct. 2017
  • Romans used jokes and laughter to mock the physically deformed and the effeminate, among others.
    — Lorraine Boissoneault, Smithsonian, 24 Apr. 2017
  • These included prejudices against women who seemed powerful and against men seen as effeminate.
    — Sarah Nooter / Made By History, TIME, 9 Sep. 2024
  • The painting shows Zapata straddling a horse while striking what some have described as an effeminate pose.
    — Fox News, 12 Dec. 2019
  • Archie is not pleased when son-in-law Michael and daughter Gloria invite their effeminate — but, as Michael says, not gay — friend for lunch.
    — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 23 June 2022
  • What’s scary, really, is the idea in the ether that compassion is effeminate and thereby un-American.
    — Diana Spechler, Harper's BAZAAR, 3 Jan. 2018
  • Experts have said that Asian men, in particular, must deal with emasculation, or being cast as effeminate and weak.
    — NBC News, 4 Feb. 2022
  • And, in a significant departure from the preceding century, men stopped wearing high heels, which were now seen as effeminate.
    — Brigit Katz, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 Aug. 2022
  • Richard walked with a limp and was mocked for his effeminate manner, raising eyebrows at home by wearing his mother’s jewelry and fashioning robes out of curtains and bedsheets.
    — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Jan. 2023
  • In film, Asian men are often depicted as effeminate or asexual, furthering the stereotype that is assumed by users on dating apps.
    — Brianna Holt, Quartz, 7 Nov. 2019
  • In reality, there's nothing effeminate about men protecting themselves and their family from a deadly virus.
    — Joel Shannon, USA TODAY, 7 Oct. 2020
  • To his father’s consternation, everything from Eddy’s manner of speaking, to his gait, to his tastes are effeminate in the eyes of the townspeople.
    — Samuel Metz, New Republic, 8 June 2017
  • Bernard swaps stereotyping digs with Robin de Jesús’s (excellent) Emory, the most flamboyantly effeminate of the lot.
    — Ben Brantley, New York Times, 31 May 2018
  • Or of the effeminate Frederick Ashton, bullied at his British boarding school and abused by his homophobic father.
    — Alice Robb, The New Republic, 16 Oct. 2023
  • In their collective eye, the word environmentalist suggests an effeminate, sentimental tree-hugger who is probably also a gun-control zealot.
    — Philip Caputo, Field & Stream, 22 Nov. 2020
  • This ultimately works to reinforce the norm through gender essentialism that upholds a social hierarchy that brands effeminate or ambiguous men as second class citizens.
    — Josh Greenblatt, WIRED, 17 July 2024
  • In a recent essay for The Point, Derek Guy writes about how the persistent fear of being perceived as gay or effeminate still spooks straight men from openly expressing their interest in fashion.
    — Josh Greenblatt, WIRED, 17 July 2024
  • On Italian shores, Rumor flies through the towns, spreading gossip and tales about the strange new immigrants as effeminate, luxury-loving Easterners, and laying the foundations for war.
    — Literary Hub, 3 Sep. 2025
  • The government banned effeminate-looking men from TV in 2021, a look that Chinese pop stars likely picked up from South Korean and Japanese performers.
    — ABC News, 9 Apr. 2026
  • The government banned effeminate-looking men from TV in 2021, a look that Chinese pop stars likely picked up from South Korean and Japanese performers.
    — Ken Moritsugu, Fortune, 10 Apr. 2026
  • Yet Grindr's disappearance in China may be also linked to Beijing's ongoing push to encourage 'traditional' family values and discourage 'effeminate' and 'sissy' men as the country grapples with a demographic crisis.
    — Yvonne Lau, Fortune, 2 Feb. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'effeminate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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