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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of masculinity
There’s an uncomfortable portrait of masculinity trapped inside Roofman, but the movie is a little too enamored of its main character to let it out.
—
Alison Willmore, Vulture, 10 Oct. 2025
Thorne’s adaptation is billed as truthful to the original novel – set in the early 1950s on an unnamed Pacific island – and will delve further into the book’s emotive themes; human nature, the loss of innocence and boyhood masculinity.
—Nancy Tartaglione, Deadline, 9 Oct. 2025
The earliest seed of the idea was wanting to do something around South Asian masculinity.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 9 Oct. 2025
Common Sense Media provides the following guidance for parents looking to navigate conversations around digital masculinity messaging.
—Ashleigh N. Deluca, Parents, 8 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for masculinity
Alison Willmore, Vulture, 10 Oct. 2025
Thorne’s adaptation is billed as truthful to the original novel – set in the early 1950s on an unnamed Pacific island – and will delve further into the book’s emotive themes; human nature, the loss of innocence and boyhood masculinity.
—Nancy Tartaglione, Deadline, 9 Oct. 2025
The earliest seed of the idea was wanting to do something around South Asian masculinity.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 9 Oct. 2025
Common Sense Media provides the following guidance for parents looking to navigate conversations around digital masculinity messaging.
—Ashleigh N. Deluca, Parents, 8 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for masculinity
Recent Examples of Synonyms for masculinity
Noun
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Fact is Bruce Springsteen has forever been a man of the people, a man in search of his own definition of his maleness and his humanity.—
Kevin Powell,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Oct. 2025
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Becoming Lazarus particularly allowed Claflin to explore maleness.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
22 Oct. 2025
Noun
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After the album dropped, Jason spoke with Travis, 35, about the song on their New Heights podcast — and guessed at what tree his own manhood would be.—
Zoey Lyttle,
PEOPLE,
27 Oct. 2025
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The performances are deliriously inspired, from Mark Ruffalo’s hilarious caricature of insecure manhood to Willem Dafoe’s oddly paternal mad scientist to Stone’s astonishing mental maturation through every developmental stage on the way to adulthood.—
A.A. Dowd,
Vulture,
24 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Studying Latin taught me that contemporary anxieties about manliness and cosmopolitanism date back thousands of years.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
15 Oct. 2025
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After taking over from the ailing Boris Yeltsin a quarter century ago, Putin started his presidency by projecting a near-comical image of manliness and invincibility.—
Andrew Ryvkin,
The Atlantic,
14 Oct. 2025
Noun
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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
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Beards were not signs of virility but of disorder.—
Maurizio Valsania,
The Conversation,
2 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Several writers attempted to construct a pattern and narrative around the killings, blaming the incidents on the country’s culture of machismo or even Sinatra’s own brash lyrics, but I was most drawn to the accounts that pointed to the singers being murdered for not performing the song well enough.—
Gaar Adams
October 3,
Literary Hub,
3 Oct. 2025
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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
Cite this Entry
“Masculinity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/masculinity. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.
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