| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| effete |
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| SYLLABICATION: | ef·fete |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   -f t |
| ADJECTIVE: | 1. Depleted of vitality, force, or effectiveness; exhausted: the final, effete period of the baroque style. 2. Marked by self-indulgence, triviality, or decadence: an effete group of self-professed intellectuals. 3. Overrefined; effeminate. 4. No longer productive; infertile. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Latin efftus, worn out, exhausted : ex-, ex- + ftus, bearing young, pregnant; see dh(i)- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | ef·fetely —ADVERB
ef·feteness —NOUN
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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