manhood

noun man·hood \ ˈman-ˌhu̇d \

Updated on: 21 Apr 2018

Definition of manhood

1 : the condition of being a human being

2 : qualities associated with men : manliness

3 : the condition of being an adult male as distinguished from a child or female

4 : adult males : men

5 : penis

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Examples of manhood in a Sentence

He took the comment as a challenge to his manhood.
He grew from boyhood to manhood in a small southern town.
the manhood of a nation

Recent Examples of manhood from the Web

In the boy’s mind, the image of his father is larger than life, woven from the mythology of the hunt and the romance of war: so much killing, such a paragon of manhood.

— laura collins-hughes, New York Times, "Review: Toxic Masculinity, Vonnegut Style, in ‘Happy Birthday, Wanda June’," 16 Apr. 2018
As a troubled teen, Tate’s idea of manhood was embedded in gang and thug culture: money, women, material things.

— danielle young, The Root, "Watch: A Chef Who Grew From the Concrete Jungle," 13 Apr. 2018
The other part is the harsh and affecting odyssey that takes boy and horse from Oregon to Wyoming, leading Charley toward the outskirts of manhood.

— joe morgenstern, WSJ, "‘Lean On Pete’ Review: A Boy, a Horse, a Bond," 12 Apr. 2018
The rape excluded me from manhood, from love, from everything.

— keith gessen, The New Yorker, "The Silence: The Legacy of Childhood Trauma," 10 Apr. 2018
The idea those young men and those old men hated was precisely and literally the idea on which this Republic was founded, the idea that any man may claim his equal manhood in this country, his unalienable right.

— burt solomon, The Atlantic, "Our Back Pages: The Atlantic and Civil Rights," 4 Apr. 2018
The Rider isn’t merely about cowboys or the West, but about manhood in America.

— john powers, Vogue, "How Chloé Zhao Reinvented the Western," 22 Mar. 2018
These men organize by sowing hatred and division, including anti-Semitism, homophobia and a chauvinistic model of manhood.

— glenn kessler, Washington Post, "DNC vice chair Keith Ellison and Louis Farrakhan: ‘No relationship’?," 9 Mar. 2018
There are mentions of diabetes — specifically to ignore it — and inclusive notions of manhood that seem placed to acknowledge unfortunate episodes in Morgan's own life, and to suggest by their presence that the actor has grown since.

— robert lloyd, latimes.com, "'The Last O.G.': A little decent, indecent comedy in Tracy Morgan's return to TV," 3 Apr. 2018

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