Manly
adj, adv, name ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Having the characteristics of a man.
"what God or Feend, or ſpirit of the earth, Or Monſter turned to a manly ſhape, Or of what mould or mettel he be made, What ſtar or ſtate ſoeuer gouern him, Let vs put on our meet incountering mindes, […]"
- 2 Having qualities viewed as befitting a man; masculine, manful, courageous, resolute, noble.
"Let's briefly put on manly readiness."
- 1 possessing qualities befitting a man wordnet
- 2 characteristic of a man wordnet
- 1 In a way befitting a man.
"[Y]ou will not only confer a favor on them but if appointed will add two Officers to our Army who will fight manly to defend their Country."
- 1 in a manful manner; with qualities thought to befit a man wordnet
- 1 A surname.
- 2 A suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"It is not manly to speak ill of others behind their backs."
Etymology
From Middle English manli, manlich, manly, from Old English *manlīċ (suggested by adverb manlīċe (“in a way befitting a person; nobly, stately”)), from Proto-West Germanic *mannlīk, from Proto-Germanic *mannlīkaz, equivalent to man + -ly (adjectival suffix). Cognate with Old High German manlīh (“manly”) (whence German männlich), Dutch mannelijk, Old Norse mannligr (“human”) (Danish mandlig, Swedish manlig).
From Middle English manli, manlich, manly, from Old English manlīċe, equivalent to man + -ly (adverbial suffix).
English and Irish surname, variant of Manley.
Related phrases
More for "manly"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.