effete

ef·fete

(ĭ-fēt′)

adj.

a. Characterized by extreme refinement or self-indulgence, often to the point of unworldiness or decadence: "the effete taste of people surfeited with expensive comforts" (R.P.T. Davenport-Hines).

b. Having or reflecting an attitude of social superiority; pretentious or snobbish: "Throughout its amateur era tennis was a country club sport, denigrated as elitist and effete" (Stuart Miller).

2. Depleted of vitality, force, or effectiveness; exhausted: the effete monarchies of Europe.

3. Effeminate: "As a manly adventurer ... [Saint Paul] seemed the perfect rebuttal to our great, if unspoken, fear that the celibate vocation was effete" (James Carroll).

4. Archaic No longer productive; infertile.

[Latin effētus, worn out, exhausted : ex-, ex- + fētus, bearing young, pregnant; see dhē(i)- in Indo-European roots.]

ef·fete′ly adv.

ef·fete′ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

effete

(ɪˈfiːt)

adj

1. weak, ineffectual, or decadent as a result of overrefinement: an effete academic.

2. exhausted of vitality or strength; worn out; spent

3. (Biology) (of animals or plants) no longer capable of reproduction

[C17: from Latin effētus having produced young, hence, exhausted by bearing, from fētus having brought forth; see fetus]

efˈfetely adv

efˈfeteness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ef•fete

(ɪˈfit)

adj.

1. lacking in wholesome vigor; degenerate; decadent: an effete, overrefined society.

2. exhausted of vigor or energy; worn out.

3. unable to produce; sterile.

[1615–25; < Latin effēta exhausted from bearing =ef- ef- + fēta having given birth, feminine past participle of lost v.; see fetus]

ef•fete′ly, adv.

ef•fete′ness, n.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Adj.

effete - marked by excessive self-indulgence and moral decay; "a decadent life of excessive money and no sense of responsibility"; "a group of effete self-professed intellectuals"

decadent

indulgent - characterized by or given to yielding to the wishes of someone ; "indulgent grandparents"

effete

adjective weak, cowardly, feeble, ineffectual, decrepit, spineless, enfeebled, weak-kneed (informal), enervated, overrefined, chicken-hearted, wimpish or wimpy (informal) a charming but effete young man

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

esausto

effete

[ɪˈfiːt] ADJ → agotado, cansado

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

effete

adj → schwach; person → saft- und kraftlos

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

effete

[ɪˈfiːt] adj (pej) → decadente

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

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References in classic literature ?

In the meantime you can relieve your feelings by cursing the one-man power and the effete monarchies of Europe."

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Uncouth, perhaps, and brutal, too, if judged too harshly by the standards of effete twentieth- century civilization, but withal noble, dignified, chivalrous, and loveable.

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Prince, I want you to remember that however effete you may find us as a nation from your somewhat romantic point of view, we have at least realized the highest ideals any nation has ever conceived in the administration of the law.

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The knoll was there, but the Hunnish brambles had overrun and all but obliterated its effete grasses; and the patrician garden-violet had capitulated to his plebeian brother--perhaps had merely reverted to his original type.

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Here was I thinking you a new-sprung child of nature; there were you, the belated seedling of an effete aristocracy!"

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So beautiful is she that I am always having difficulty in remembering that she is a primitive, half-savage cave girl of the stone age, and often find myself mentally limiting her ca-pacities to those of the effete and overcivilized beauties of the outer crust.

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At the sight of the mighty figure reduced to pitiable inefficiency and weakness, despite the knowledge that her protector could no longer protect, the fear of the jungle faded from the heart of the young girl--she was no more a weak and trembling daughter of an effete civilization.

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My auxiliaries are the dews and rains which water this dry soil, and what fertility is in the soil itself, which for the most part is lean and effete. My enemies are worms, cool days, and most of all woodchucks.

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Nobody in Jamaica was anxious to maintain David for the mere pleasure of his society; and those hidden merits of a man which are so well known to himself were as little recognized there as they notoriously are in the effete society of the Old World.

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Here is a new enterprise of Brook Farm, of Skeneateles, of Northampton: why so impatient to baptize them Essenes, or Port-Royalists, or Shakers, or by any known and effete name?

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This wa'n't no effete civilization like it's come to be now." Bettles paused long enough to put his arm in a proper bear-hug around Daylight's neck.

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The crocodile of America, superior in every detail to the crocodile of the effete monarchies of the Old World.