How to Use manhood in a Sentence

manhood

noun
  • He took the comment as a challenge to his manhood.
  • He grew from boyhood to manhood in a small southern town.
  • That's real manhood right there.
    — Outside Online, 21 Jan. 2026
  • On the cusp of manhood, with all the innocence of a child and the body hair of an adult.
    — Dahlia Gallin Ramirez, The New Yorker, 12 Mar. 2021
  • For some sound junkies, the size of the stereo and the girth of the speakers are the measures of manhood.
    — Wired Staff, WIRED, 1 Nov. 1997
  • My pre-teen self just shuddered at the thought of JT’s manhood.
    — refinery29.com, 30 June 2018
  • The goal of the wrestling work, said the artist, was to loosen definitions of manhood.
    — Meredith Mendelsohn, New York Times, 22 June 2018
  • Because in the manosphere, failures of manhood are never your own.
    — Miriam Eve Mora, The Conversation, 3 Apr. 2026
  • Ponyboy wants to prove his manhood but also aspires to be a writer.
    — Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Mar. 2026
  • Sumney goes high and low in search of a different version of manhood.
    — Hua Hsu, The New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2020
  • The Fab Five used their skills to direct the boys toward manhood.
    — Lisa Rosen, Los Angeles Times, 15 Aug. 2023
  • Pit bulls are supposed to be some kind of expression of the owner's manhood.
    — Arkansas Online, 8 Aug. 2020
  • Given a choice between a mask and a cup, a catcher would say a prayer for his manhood and pull the mask over his head.
    — Paul Daugherty, The Enquirer, 1 July 2020
  • Because meat is linked to manhood, carnivory promises a way to pump up a shrivelled birthright.
    — Manvir Singh, The New Yorker, 25 Sep. 2023
  • Nothing takes away a team’s manhood quite like running the ball down their collective throats.
    — Rob Reischel, Forbes, 20 Jan. 2022
  • Ending the slump did not come without some pain, though, after Raleigh took a foul tip near his manhood.
    — Ryan Morik, FOXNews.com, 13 May 2026
  • All men are caught in the crossfire, questioning their own role in society and manhood.
    — Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 4 Mar. 2025
  • Eric sees Claire, in a weird way, as his ticket to adulthood and real love and manhood.
    — Samantha Highfill, EW.com, 9 Nov. 2020
  • Much of the film’s comedy hinges on the trio trying to keep their manhood (and manliness) in check.
    — Manuel Betancourt, Vulture, 4 May 2023
  • These disparagements cut to the core of southern manhood.
    — Rob Wolfe, The Atlantic, 5 June 2026
  • The two men take the audience on a journey to define their own manhood and identity.
    — oregonlive, 17 Mar. 2021
  • The Old School notions of manhood, respect etc don’t work anymore.
    — Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com, 31 July 2019
  • The statue’s manhood can only be seen by standing close to the glass on the lower floor and peering upwards.
    — Rebecca Ann Hughes, Forbes, 5 Oct. 2021
  • The point is that ideals of manhood can be—and are—wielded by men in power to the majority of men’s detriment.
    — Jennifer Wright, Harper's BAZAAR, 29 Aug. 2019
  • This puts intense pressure on them to leap from boyhood directly into manhood.
    — Ashleigh N. Deluca, Parents, 16 Sep. 2025
  • And this is literally what, like brotherhood but real manhood looks like.
    — Outside Online, 21 Jan. 2026
  • There are 165 days until the election, and the Democrats have a manhood problem — one a pill won’t fix.
    — Anita Chabria, Los Angeles Times, 23 May 2024
  • In his place was a vision of American manhood that would have been at home in the 1950s.
    — Vulture, 3 Aug. 2022
  • In the 1990s, a vandal chopped off the Ranch Club stallion’s, um, manhood.
    — Michael Deeds, Idaho Statesman, 2 Jan. 2025
  • For the Maasai tribe in Kenya, killing a lion with a spear was a rite of passage into manhood until the past decade or so.
    — Mark Jenkins, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 Jan. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'manhood.' 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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