as in male
of, relating to, or marked by qualities traditionally associated with men
men were once expected to be interested only in such virile activities as hunting
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Recent Examples of virile
And the possibility of a virile and serious and seriously taken black man—all three—is ignored in virtually the entire world of Cather’s and Hemingway’s fiction.
—
Literary Hub, 3 Feb. 2026
And if the ecological action epic of 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water allowed the flower child side to dominate the auteur’s inner grunt, now the macho warrior re-emerges, hungry and determined and surprisingly virile.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 16 Dec. 2025
Rather than prizing animals for their beauty, their virile traits or their straight-up cool characteristics, frogposting is all about vulnerable animals—the dweebs of the animal kingdom.
—Hazlitt, 3 Dec. 2025
All research seems to indicate that this back-to-back joke from 1985 was the lodestar for the meme of a socially inept teen feigning virile worldliness with a gal in America's northern neighbor country.
—Jordan Hoffman Updated, EW.com, 2 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for virile
Literary Hub, 3 Feb. 2026
And if the ecological action epic of 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water allowed the flower child side to dominate the auteur’s inner grunt, now the macho warrior re-emerges, hungry and determined and surprisingly virile.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 16 Dec. 2025
Rather than prizing animals for their beauty, their virile traits or their straight-up cool characteristics, frogposting is all about vulnerable animals—the dweebs of the animal kingdom.
—Hazlitt, 3 Dec. 2025
All research seems to indicate that this back-to-back joke from 1985 was the lodestar for the meme of a socially inept teen feigning virile worldliness with a gal in America's northern neighbor country.
—Jordan Hoffman Updated, EW.com, 2 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for virile
Recent Examples of Synonyms for virile
Adjective
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Police said the second male stabbing victim initially ran from the scene, but officers later found him and applied a tourniquet that helped save his life.—
Michael Dorgan,
FOXNews.com,
9 Apr. 2026
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Her account illuminates the role of royal women as advisers, managers of court affairs, and participants in diplomatic life—a dimension of Mughal history largely absent from accounts penned by male authors.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
9 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Jews arguably enjoyed more rights in America than anywhere else in modern times, but they were still excluded from institutions of masculine camaraderie.—
Miriam Eve Mora,
The Conversation,
3 Apr. 2026
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By combining elements of traditional masculine dressing with the traditionally feminine ballet flat, brands are participating in the trend without alienating shoppers.—
Jack Stanley,
Vogue,
31 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Virile.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/virile. Accessed 15 Apr. 2026.
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