as in maleness
the set of qualities considered appropriate for or characteristic of men some men believe that wearing pink would undermine their masculinity

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of masculinity Talk about ‘digital masculinity’ First, assume your kids will be exposed to this kind of content, said Melissa Greenberg, a clinical psychologist at Princeton Psychotherapy Center who was not involved in the study. Kara Alaimo, CNN Money, 8 Oct. 2025 What better way to prove your masculinity than to join the Marines? David Amsden, Rolling Stone, 7 Oct. 2025 The real loss, at the altar of a warped vision of masculinity, is courage and skill, sacrificed so that a few good men can go on measuring themselves against their own hollow myth of toughness. Arman Khan, Them., 3 Oct. 2025 In an era when masculinity feels increasingly brittle and empathy is under attack, the best picture race is often a referendum on the direction of global politics. Clayton Davis, Variety, 2 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for masculinity
Recent Examples of Synonyms for masculinity
Noun
  • His boot camp experience serves as a coming-of-age journey for the character as his perspective on manhood changes.
    Dory Jackson, PEOPLE, 11 Oct. 2025
  • Moura suggests that Filho’s also exploring manhood, not so much in the macho sense, but in its connection to values.
    Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 10 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Studying Latin taught me that contemporary anxieties about manliness and cosmopolitanism date back thousands of years.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2025
  • But just like the men who understood changing a diaper in the 1990s didn't take away their manliness, so can participating in their spouse's emotional needs.
    Laura Trujillo, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • For someone like Eli, then, projecting movie-star-like virility and vigor was an exercise in social advancement, in distancing himself from his babushka forebears’ grim reality.
    David Kamp, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2025
  • Beards were not signs of virility but of disorder.
    Maurizio Valsania, The Conversation, 2 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • While there are a few male employees at Olta, most everything — from tending the crops to distilling the liquid to bottling it up — is done by women, a rarity in the machismo world of Mexican spirits.
    Allyson Reedy, Denver Post, 24 Sep. 2025
  • Advertisement Gudsen's fractured identity—swaggering machismo versus devoted family man—might suggest dissociative identity disorder, but Lehane resists reducing him to a clinical label.
    JP Mangalindan, Time, 15 Aug. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Masculinity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/masculinity. Accessed 17 Oct. 2025.

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