effete

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Mostly that has meant pretending to be a Real American by riding horses, going hunting or driving around in a pick-up to prove they aren’t some effete city slicker.

From Salon • Nov. 23, 2025

Marie Antoinette would be executed in October of the same year; French fashion influence was a sign of an effete aristocracy that was potentially losing its grip.

From Slate • Jul. 21, 2025

“I’ll go after him for being ‘this effete knower of arcane knowledge, who knows little tidbits that no one would care about.’

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 27, 2023

The odes are so beautiful — and Keats’s image as a sensualist, an effete Romantic aesthete, so firmly established — that it is easy to overlook how philosophically accomplished and profound they are.

From Washington Post • Feb. 25, 2021

Traditionally, effete has meant “barren,” “used up,” or “worn out.”

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner