Adjacent Words

Emasculate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

EM`ASCULATE, v.t. [Low L. emasculo, from e and masculus, a male. See Male.]
1. To castrate; to deprive a male of certain parts which characterize the sex; to geld; to deprive of virility.
2. To deprive of masculine strength or vigor; to weaken; to render effeminate; to vitiate by unmanly softness.
Women emasculate a monarch's reign.
To emasculate the spirits.
EM`ASCULATE, a. Unmanned; deprived of vigor.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: having unsuitable feminine qualities [syn: effeminate, emasculate, epicene, cissy, sissified, sissyish, sissy] v
1: deprive of strength or vigor; "The Senate emasculated the law" [syn: emasculate, castrate]
2: remove the testicles of a male animal [syn: emasculate, castrate, demasculinize, demasculinise]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb (-lated; -lating) Etymology: Latin emasculatus, past participle of emasculare, from e- + masculus male — more at male Date: 1607 1. to deprive of strength, vigor, or spirit ; weaken 2. to deprive of virility or procreative power ; castrate 3. to remove the androecium of (a flower) in the process of artificial cross-pollination Synonyms: see unnerve • emasculate adjective • emasculation noun • emasculator noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & adj. --v.tr. 1 deprive of force or vigour; make feeble or ineffective. 2 castrate. --adj. 1 deprived of force or vigour. 2 castrated. 3 effeminate. Derivatives: emasculation n. emasculator n. emasculatory adj. Etymology: L emasculatus past part. of emasculare (as E-, masculus dimin. of mas male)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Emasculate E*mas"cu*late, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Emasculated; p. pr. & vb. n. Emasculating.] [L. emasculare; e + masculus male, masculine. See Male masculine.] 1. To deprive of virile or procreative power; to castrate power; to castrate; to geld. 2. To deprive of masculine vigor or spirit; to weaken; to render effeminate; to vitiate by unmanly softness. Luxury had not emasculated their minds. --V. Knox.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Emasculate E*mas"cu*late, a. Deprived of virility or vigor; unmanned; weak. ``Emasculate slave.'' --Hammond.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(emasculates, emasculating, emasculated) 1. If someone or something is emasculated, they have been made weak and ineffective. Left-wing dissidents have been emasculated and marginalised... The company tried to emasculate the unions... Since Japan's defeat, the military has remained largely emasculated. = neuter VERB: be V-ed, V n, V-ed [disapproval] • emasculation ...the emasculation of fundamental freedoms. 2. If a man is emasculated, he loses his male role, identity, or qualities. Tosh was known to be a man who feared no-one, yet he was clearly emasculated by his girlfriend. VERB: usu passive, be V-ed [disapproval]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Castrate, geld, glib, deprive of virility, deprive of procreative power. 2. Weaken, enervate, debilitate, unman, effeminate, effeminize, emolliate, make effeminate, deprive of native vigor.

Moby Thesaurus

alter, castrate, cripple, debilitate, demasculinize, desex, desexualize, devitalize, disable, effeminate, effeminatize, effeminize, enervate, etiolate, eunuchize, exhaust, fix, forceless, geld, hamstring, hobble, impotent, inadequate, incapacitate, ineffective, ineffectual, lame, maim, sissify, soften, spay, spineless, sterilize, unman, unnerve, unsex, unstring, wan, weak, wing, womanize