'Effete' definitions:
Definition of 'effete'
From: WordNet
adjective
Marked by excessive self-indulgence and moral decay; "a decadent life of excessive money and no sense of responsibility"; "a group of effete self-professed intellectuals" [syn: decadent, effete]
Definition of 'Effete'
From: GCIDE
- Effete \Ef*fete"\, a. [L. effetus that has brought forth, exhausted; ex + fetus that has brought forth. See Fetus.] No longer capable of producing young, as an animal, or fruit, as the earth; hence, worn out with age; exhausted of energy; incapable of efficient action; no longer productive; barren; sterile. [1913 Webster]
- Effete results from virile efforts. --Mrs. Browning [1913 Webster]
- If they find the old governments effete, worn out, . . . they may seek new ones. --Burke. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'effete'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- ablated,
- all in,
- anemic,
- arid,
- asthenic,
- ausgespielt,
- barren,
- blah,
- blank,
- bleary,
- bloodless,
- bootless,
- burned-out,
- burnt up,
- characterless,
- chicken,
- cold,
- colorless,
- coming apart,
- consumed,
- counterproductive,
- cowardly,
- cracking,
- crumbling,
- dead,
- debilitated,
- decadent,
- decayed,
- decaying,
- declining,
- degenerate,
- depleted,
- deteriorating,
- devitalized,
- disabled,
- disintegrating,
- dismal,
- dissipated,
- dissolute,
- done,
- done in,
- done up,
- draggy,
- drained,
- draining,
- drearisome,
- dreary,
- drooping,
- droopy,
- dry,
- dryasdust,
- dull,
- dusty,
- dwindling,
- eaten up,
- ebbing,
- elephantine,
- emptied,
- empty,
- enervated,
- enfeebled,
- eroded,
- etiolated,
- eviscerated,
- exhausted,
- fade,
- fading,
- failing,
- faint,
- faintish,
- falling,
- far-gone,
- fatigued,
- fatuitous,
- fatuous,
- feckless,
- feeble,
- finished,
- flabby,
- flaccid,
- flagging,
- flat,
- floppy,
- fragmenting,
- frazzled,
- fruitless,
- futile,
- going to pieces,
- gone,
- gutless,
- heavy,
- ho-hum,
- hollow,
- imbecile,
- immoral,
- impotent,
- impoverished,
- inadequate,
- inane,
- incapacitated,
- ineffective,
- ineffectual,
- inefficacious,
- inexcitable,
- infecund,
- infertile,
- inoperative,
- insipid,
- invalid,
- jaded,
- jejune,
- laid low,
- languid,
- languishing,
- languorous,
- leaden,
- lifeless,
- limber,
- limp,
- listless,
- low-spirited,
- lustless,
- marcescent,
- marrowless,
- nerveless,
- nugacious,
- nugatory,
- of no force,
- out,
- overripe,
- pale,
- pallid,
- pedestrian,
- pining,
- pithless,
- played out,
- plodding,
- pointless,
- poky,
- ponderous,
- pooped,
- powerless,
- regressive,
- retrograde,
- retrogressive,
- rubbery,
- run-down,
- sapless,
- sapped,
- shotten,
- shriveling,
- sinewless,
- sinking,
- slack,
- sliding,
- slipping,
- slow,
- slumping,
- soft,
- solemn,
- spent,
- spineless,
- spiritless,
- sterile,
- stiff,
- stodgy,
- strengthless,
- stuffy,
- subsiding,
- superficial,
- tabetic,
- tasteless,
- tedious,
- tired,
- unavailing,
- unfruitful,
- unhardened,
- unlively,
- unnerved,
- unstrung,
- used up,
- useless,
- vain,
- vapid,
- waning,
- washed-out,
- wasted,
- wasting,
- weak,
- weakened,
- weakly,
- wilting,
- withering,
- wooden,
- worn,
- worn away,
- worn-out,
- worsening