Adjacent Words

Feminine definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

FEM'ININE, a. [L. femininus, from femina, woman. The first syllable may be and probably is from wemb or womb, by the use of f for w; the b not being radical. The last part of the word is probably from man, quasi, femman, womb-man.]
1. Pertaining to a woman, or to women, or to females; as the female sex.
2. soft; tender; delicate.
Her heavenly form angelic, but more soft and feminine.
3. Effeminate; destitute of manly qualities.
4. In grammar, denoting the gender or words which signify females, or the terminations of such words. words are said to be of the feminine gender, when they denote females, or have the terminations proper to express females in any given language. Thus in L. dominus, a lord, is masculine; but domina, is mistress, a female.
Milton uses feminine as a noun, for female.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: associated with women and not with men; "feminine intuition" [ant: masculine]
2: of grammatical gender [ant: masculine, neuter]
3: befitting or characteristic of a woman especially a mature woman; "womanly virtues of gentleness and compassion" [syn: womanly, feminine] [ant: unwomanly]
4: (music or poetry) ending on an unaccented beat or syllable; "a feminine ending" n
1: a gender that refers chiefly (but not exclusively) to females or to objects classified as female

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French feminin, from Latin femininus, from femina woman; akin to Old English delu nipple, Latin filius son, felix, fetus, & fecundus fruitful, felare to suck, Greek th?l? nipple Date: 14th century 1. female 1a(1) 2. characteristic of or appropriate or unique to women <feminine beauty> <a feminine perspective> 3. of, relating to, or constituting the gender that ordinarily includes most words or grammatical forms referring to females <a feminine noun> 4. a. being an unstressed and usually hypermetric final syllable <a feminine ending> b. of rhyme having an unstressed final syllable c. having the final chord occurring on a weak beat <music in feminine cadences> • femininely adverb • feminineness noun II. noun Date: 15th century 1. a. a noun, pronoun, adjective, or inflectional form or class of the feminine gender b. the feminine gender 2. the embodiment or conception of a timeless or idealized feminine nature <the eternal feminine>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. 1 of or characteristic of women. 2 having qualities associated with women. 3 womanly, effeminate. 4 Gram. of or denoting the gender proper to women's names. --n. Gram. a feminine gender or word. Derivatives: femininely adv. feminineness n. femininity n. Etymology: ME f. OF feminin -ine or L femininus f. femina woman

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Feminine Fem"i*nine, a. [L. femininus, fr. femina woman; prob. akin to L. fetus, or to Gr. qh^sqai to suck, qh^sai to suckle, Skr. dh[=a] to suck; cf. AS. f[=ae]mme woman, maid: cf. F. f['e]minin. See Fetus.] 1. Of or pertaining to a woman, or to women; characteristic of a woman; womanish; womanly. Her letters are remarkably deficient in feminine ease and grace. --Macaulay. 2. Having the qualities of a woman; becoming or appropriate to the female sex; as, in a good sense, modest, graceful, affectionate, confiding; or, in a bad sense, weak, nerveless, timid, pleasure-loving, effeminate. Her heavenly form Angelic, but more soft and feminine. --Milton. Ninus being esteemed no man of war at all, but altogether feminine, and subject to ease and delicacy. --Sir W. Raleigh.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Feminine Fem"i*nine, n. 1. A woman. [Obs. or Colloq.] They guide the feminines toward the palace. --Hakluyt. 2. (Gram.) Any one of those words which are the appellations of females, or which have the terminations usually found in such words; as, actress, songstress, abbess, executrix. There are but few true feminines in English. --Latham.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. Feminine qualities and things relate to or are considered typical of women, in contrast to men. ...male leaders worrying about their women abandoning traditional feminine roles. ...a manufactured ideal of feminine beauty. = female ? masculine ADJ: usu ADJ n 2. Someone or something that is feminine has qualities that are considered typical of women, especially being pretty or gentle. I've always been attracted to very feminine, delicate women... The bedroom has a light, feminine look. ? masculine ADJ [approval] 3. In some languages, a feminine noun, pronoun, or adjective has a different form from a masculine or neuter one, or behaves in a different way. ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Soft, tender, delicate, female. See womanly. 2. Effeminate, unmanly, weak.

Moby Thesaurus

affected, amenable, animate, common gender, deferential, delicate, distaff, docile, effeminate, effete, female, gender, gentle, gentlewomanlike, girlish, gynecic, gynecoid, gynic, inanimate, kittenish, ladylike, little-girlish, maidenly, masculine, matronal, matronlike, matronly, muliebral, neuter, petticoat, soft, submissive, tender, unmanly, womanish, womanlike, womanly