What does defeminise mean?
Defeminise is a transitive verb meaning to deprive someone or something of feminine qualities, characteristics, or associations. The term is used when describing changes in appearance, behaviour, style, or institutional character that make a person or thing seem less distinctly feminine — for example, a critic might argue that austere modern fashions defeminise traditional dress, or a sociologist might examine how particular workplaces were said to defeminise women's roles. It belongs to a small family of words built on Latin femina ('woman') alongside feminise, effeminate, and feminism, and it carries an evaluative edge: speakers usually deploy it to signal disapproval that something admired for its femininity has been diminished or neutralised. The spelling with -ise is standard in British English, while American English favours defeminize.
verbTo deprive of feminine qualities or characteristics; to make something or someone less feminine in appearance, character, or style.
- To deprive a person, thing, or style of feminine qualities or characteristics.
"The new uniform design was criticised for seeming to defeminise the traditionally elegant dress code."
"Critics argued that the stark, angular architecture seemed to defeminise what had once been a graceful interior."
"Some scholars study how certain institutions historically sought to defeminise women's spaces in the name of modernity."
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of defeminise
Defeminise is formed from the prefix de- ('to remove or reverse') combined with feminise, which derives from Latin femina, meaning 'woman'. The underlying root also gives English feminine, effeminate, and feminism. The -ise spelling follows British convention, while the parallel form defeminize reflects American usage; both arose as transparent formations within English rather than being borrowed directly from another language.
Related word forms
How defeminise is actually used
Chiefly British spelling; American English typically uses 'defeminize' with -ize. The word is relatively rare and appears mostly in academic, sociological, and critical writing about gender, often carrying a critical or evaluative connotation that something valued for its femininity has been stripped away.
Easily confused with defeminise
Demasculinise means to strip away masculine qualities, whereas defeminise means to strip away feminine qualities.