WOMANLY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does womanly mean? 

• WOMANLY (adjective)
  The adjective WOMANLY has 1 sense:

1. befitting or characteristic of a woman especially a mature woman

  Familiarity information: WOMANLY used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WOMANLY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Befitting or characteristic of a woman especially a mature woman

Synonyms:

feminine; womanly

Context example:

womanly virtues of gentleness and compassion

Similar:

matronly (befitting or characteristic of a fully mature woman)

womanlike (resembling a woman)

Antonym:

unwomanly (not womanly)

Derivation:

woman (an adult female person (as opposed to a man))

womanliness (the trait of being womanly; having the characteristics of an adult female)

 Context examples 

Gladys was full of every womanly quality.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She had never read Sartor Resartus, but she had a womanly instinct that clothes possess an influence more powerful over many than the worth of character or the magic of manners.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It seemed to my imagination as if the portrait had grown womanly, and the original remained a child.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I noticed as we talked over his condition, that Maud’s sympathy went out to him more and more; yet I could not but love her for it, so sweetly womanly was it.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Seldom have I seen so graceful a figure, so womanly a presence, and so beautiful a face.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Miss Darcy was tall, and on a larger scale than Elizabeth; and, though little more than sixteen, her figure was formed, and her appearance womanly and graceful.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Disregarding my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand over his head with a sweet womanly caress.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

So transformed and so ethereal was her expression, that Alleyne, in his loftiest dream of archangel or of seraph, had never pictured so sweet, so womanly, and yet so wise a face.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Emma grieved that she could not be more openly just to one important service which his better sense would have rendered her, to the advice which would have saved her from the worst of all her womanly follies—her wilful intimacy with Harriet Smith; but it was too tender a subject.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

In the country, therefore, the Miss Bertrams continued to exercise their memories, practise their duets, and grow tall and womanly: and their father saw them becoming in person, manner, and accomplishments, everything that could satisfy his anxiety.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)