Unmanly
adj, adv ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Showing characteristics that are not manly, such as being immature, effeminate or cowardly, which might be construed as an indicator of weakness or of baseness of character.
"'I do not know which is the worse,' he cried, 'the fraudulent old villain or the unmanly young cub. […]"
- 2 Of or pertaining to something not human. archaic
"And then, it may be, of his wish to roam Repented he, but in his bosom slept The silent thought, nor from his lips did come One word of wail, whilst others sate and wept, And to the reckless gales unmanly moaning kept."
- 3 Cowardly, base.
"Full many mischiefes follow cruell Wrath; Abhorred bloodshed and tumultuous strife, Unmanly murder, and unthrifty scath, Bitter despight, with rancours rusty knife, And fretting griefe the enemy of life; All these, and many evils moe haunt ire, The swelling Splene, and Frenzy raging rife, The shaking Palsey, and Saint Fraunces fire: Such one was Wrath, the last of this ungodly tire."
- 4 Not acceptable from a man.
"Mr. Coverley was quite brutal: he swore at her with unmanly rage, and seemed scarce able to refrain even from striking her."
- 5 Not becoming of a man.
"Jo wanted to lay her head down on that motherly bosom, and cry her grief and anger all away, but tears were an unmanly weakness, and she felt so deeply injured that she really couldn’t quite forgive yet."
- 1 lacking in courage and manly strength and resolution; contemptibly fearful wordnet
- 2 not possessing qualities befitting a man wordnet
- 1 In a manner that is unmanly.
"He had acted unmanly, unworthy of a gentleman."
- 1 without qualities thought to befit a man wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"There is a widespread opinion that all study of the mode of oratory is unmanly, and leads to the substitution of artifice and adornment for simplicity and power."
Etymology
From un- + manly.
More for "unmanly"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.