effete

adjective ef·fete \ e-ˈfēt , i- \

Updated on: 11 Mar 2018

Definition of effete

1 : no longer fertile

2 a : having lost character, vitality, or strength

the effete monarchies … of feudal Europe
—G. M. Trevelyan

… macrophages that recycle used iron from effete red cells.
—Nancy C. Andrews

b : marked by weakness or decadence

the effete East

c : soft or delicate from or as if from a pampered existence

peddled … trendy tweeds to effete Easterners
—William Helmer

effete tenderfeet

also : characteristic of an effete person

a wool scarf … a bit effete on an outdoorsman
—Nelson Bryant

3 : effeminate 1

a good-humored, effete boy brought up by maiden aunts
—Herman Wouk

—

effetely

adverb

—

effeteness

noun

See effete defined for English-language learners

See effete defined for kids

effete was our Word of the Day on 01/21/2016. Hear the podcast!

Examples of effete in a Sentence

effete members of the aristocracy
the soft, effete society that marked the final years of the Roman empire

Recent Examples of effete from the Web

The American right believes in an all-powerful security state that doesn’t let effete concerns about civil liberties get in the way of serving justice and protecting the homeland.

— eric levitz, Daily Intelligencer, "A Brief Guide to Every Five-Alarm Fire Currently Engulfing The White House," 1 Mar. 2018
Himself a product of a genteel and privileged New York background — his father, William Shawn, edited The New Yorker for decades — Shawn’s most potent and poisonous theatrical barbs tended to be aimed at effete, refined liberals.

— aaron gilbreath, Longreads, "Wallace Shawn’s Late Night," 17 Jan. 2018
The film, which opens Friday, centers on a caveman named Dug and his Stone Age tribe, whose peaceful existence is threatened by effete Bronze Age warriors with Monty Python French accents.

— charles solomon, latimes.com, "Nick Park is back in the stop-motion animation game with 'Early Man'," 14 Feb. 2018
Given that few people who are not effete, refined liberals go to the theater in contemporary America, this was an alienating strategy.

— aaron gilbreath, Longreads, "Wallace Shawn’s Late Night," 17 Jan. 2018
If Chuck in South Orange wants his red meat, then who are those effete Times editors to serve him veggie wraps?

— will oremus, Slate Magazine, "How Liz Spayd is squandering the most important watchdog job in journalism.," 14 Apr. 2017
Will and Grace were a couple entangled in every sense but the romantic one, surrounded by their scene-stealing sidekicks, effete and bitchy Jack (Sean Hayes) and soused and bitchy Karen (Megan Mullally).

— willa paskin, Slate Magazine, "Because now it’s a sharp comedy about white, moneyed, liberal hypocrisy.," 28 Sep. 2017
Franz Xaver Winterhalter’s 1854 portrait shows him looking mightily effete, decked out in rich silk brocades but sans armband with diamond.

— henrik bering, WSJ, "The Jewel in the Crown," 8 Sep. 2017
By contrast, right-wing populism sets up a triadic antagonism between the people, the elite, and a third segment of the population that is supposedly being coddled by the political establishment: Muslims, immigrants, effete intellectuals, and so on.

— yascha mounk, New Republic, "What the rise of populist movements means for democracy.," 19 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'effete.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Effete derives from Latin effetus, meaning "no longer fruitful," and for a brief time in English it was used to describe an animal no longer capable of producing offspring. For most of its existence in English, however, the use of "effete" has been entirely figurative. For many years, the usual figurative sense of the word was "exhausted" or "worn out," but today "effete" is more likely to suggest overrefinement, weakness of character, snobbery, and effeminacy. "Effete" first showed signs of acquiring these shades of meaning in the 1920s, but it wasn't until the 1940s that the new "effete" clearly established itself in reputable writing. One example can be found in John Steinbeck's 1945 novel Cannery Row: "now and then some effete customer would order a stinger or an anisette."