Meaning & use
emasculation
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Meanings
noununcountablefigurativeformal
The act of weakening or making someone or something less effective, especially by taking away power or confidence.
Grammar: Often used figuratively with of: the emasculation of the committee.
Patterns
- the emasculation of something
Critics described the changes as the emasculation of the law.
The editor's cuts amounted to the emasculation of the article.
He felt his demotion was an emasculation of his authority.
noununcountablefigurative
A feeling that one's sense of masculine identity or strength has been taken away or diminished.
Grammar: Describes a psychological or social effect; some people consider the idea outdated or sexist.
Patterns
- feel emasculation
He spoke of the emasculation he felt after losing his job.
Some writers discuss the fear of emasculation in old stories about masculinity.
noununcountabletechnicalrare
The removal of a male animal's or person's testicles, or the physical act of castration.
Grammar: The literal medical or veterinary sense is rare in modern general use.
Patterns
- the emasculation of someone
The old text described the emasculation of the captured prisoners.
Historically, the emasculation of livestock made them calmer.
Common combinations
- emasculation of
- The emasculation of the bill left it with no real power.
- fear of emasculation
- The film explores a fear of emasculation in modern work.
- sense of emasculation
- A sense of emasculation followed his public defeat.
- political emasculation
- Opponents accused the council of political emasculation.
- feeling of emasculation
- He denied any feeling of emasculation when his wife earned more.
Synonyms and how they differ
- weakening
- Weakening is plain and general, while emasculation implies the loss of an essential strength or potency.
- castration
- Castration is the exact medical term for the physical act, and is used literally, unlike figurative emasculation.
- undermining
- Undermining suggests gradually damaging authority from beneath, whereas emasculation suggests stripping it away outright.
- neutering
- Neutering is used for pets and animals and sounds plain, whereas emasculation is formal or figurative.
Opposites
Word family
- emasculate verb
- to deprive of strength or force
- emasculated adjective
- made weak or powerless
- emasculating adjective
- making someone feel weak or less manly
- masculine adjective
- having qualities associated with men
Commonly confused: emasculation or masculinity?
emasculation vs masculinity
Masculinity is the quality of being male or manly; emasculation is the taking away of strength or that quality.
Practice
The reformers complained about the ___ of the law, saying that amendments had stripped it of all force.
Choose one answer.
Emasculation here means weakening something by taking away its power. Emancipation means freeing, and emulation means copying, so neither fits.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “emasculation”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.