tomboyish

as in masculine
having qualities or traits that are traditionally considered inappropriate for a girl or woman her father thought that ice hockey was a little too tomboyish for her, but her mother and older brother encouraged her to take it up

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for tomboyish
Adjective
  • This double dose of slightly different modes of masculine aggression seems overly familiar.
    Armond White, National Review, 21 Mar. 2025
  • Intersex people have chromosomes and/or reproductive organs that do not fit into a binary male or female classification, while two-spirit refers to members of Indigenous cultures who identify as having both a masculine and feminine spirit.
    Colleen English, The Conversation, 13 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • The new girl’s unladylike bravado ensures that she will be asked to board with the Brown girl.
    Chris Bohjalian, Washington Post, 17 Aug. 2023
  • In fact, one of the choicest bites of the entire meal was an unladylike gnaw of the generous gristle on a bone followed by a spoonful of marrow-thickened soup, bobbing with cubes of cleansing daikon.
    Jiayang Fan, The New Yorker, 2 Sep. 2022
Adjective
  • Dior’s collection referenced the H-line created by its founder Christian Dior for Fall-Winter 1954-1955 – a controversial silhouette at the time as its flattened shape appeared, for some, unfeminine.
    Alice Pfeiffer, CNN, 28 Jan. 2025
  • The intention behind this final postcard may have been, yet again, to paint the fight for suffrage as absurd, to make suffragists seem like willful, unfeminine animals.
    Natalie Kinkade, JSTOR Daily, 25 Sep. 2024
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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“Tomboyish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tomboyish. Accessed 2 Apr. 2025.

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