masculine adj

1 of grammatical gender [ant: feminine, neuter]

2 associated with men and not with women [ant: feminine]

3 (music or poetry) ending on an accented beat or syllable; "a masculine cadence"; "the masculine rhyme of `annoy, enjoy'" n : a gender that refers chiefly (but not exclusively) to males or to objects classified as male

English

Etymology

From masculin, from masculinus, from masculus, diminutive of mas; See male.

Pronunciation

• a RP /ˈmæskjʊlɪn/ or /ˈmæskjəlɪn/
• a US /ˈmæskjuːlɪn/ or /ˈmæskjəlɪn/

Adjective

1. pertaining to male humans, men:
   1. manly; having the qualities associated with men; suitable to, or characteristic of, a man; not feminine or effeminate; virile (only in this sense, does the adjective compare)
      • Hallam — That lady, after her husband's death, held the reins with a masculine energy.
      • Fuller — A masculine church.
   2. male; having male biology, not female; of the male sex (rare)
      • Chaucer — Thy masculine children, that is to say, thy sons.
   3. belonging to men; appropriated to, or used by, men

      “John”, “Paul”, and “Harry” are masculine names.

2. in many inflected languages:
   1. In the context of "of a noun": being of the masculine class, or grammatical gender, and inflected in that manner

      The noun Student is masculine in German.

   2. In the context of "of some other parts of speech": being inflected in agreement with the masculine

      German uses the masculine of the definite article, der, with Student.

Synonyms

• sense having qualities of male gender manly, virile
• sense of the male sex male

Antonyms

• sense having qualities of male gender effeminate, feminine
• sense of the male sex female, womanly
• sense grammar feminine

Derived terms

• masculinely
• masculineness
• masculinity
• masculinization
• demasculinization
• emasculate

Translations