effete

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[edit] English

[edit] Alternative forms

[edit] Etymology

From Latin effetus (that has given birth; exhausted).

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Adjective

effete (comparative more effete, superlative most effete)

  1. (obsolete) Of substances, quantities etc: exhausted, spent, worn-out.
    • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.4.1.v:
      Nature is not effœte, as he saith, or so lavish, to bestow all her gifts upon an age, but hath reserved some for posterity, to shew her power, that she is still the same, and not old or consumed.
  2. (now rare) Of people: lacking strength or vitality; feeble, powerless, impotent.
  3. Decadent, self-indulgent; effeminate.

[edit] Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

[edit] Derived terms

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