nonvirile

English

Alternative forms

• non-virile

Etymology

From non- +‎ virile.

Adjective

nonvirile (not comparable)

1. Not virile.
   • 1984, Tony Hillerman, The Spell of New Mexico‎^[1]:

     Then there is a consistency, if this feminine theory is true, in the old-womanlike faces of the middle-aged Pueblo Indians; they are stout and appear nonvirile and non-sexual.

   • 1992, Edward Jayne, Negative poetics‎^[2]:

     Finally, as if by afterthought, Barthes added a final antinomy between virile and nonvirile to complete the regressive sequence for rejecting heterosexual […]

   • 2004, Jude Deveraux, Remembrance‎^[3]:

     As every romance writer and reader knows, there are virile names and there are nonvirile names.

2. (grammar) Pertaining to a grammatical gender used in some Slavic languages for plurals of masculine animate, masculine inanimate, feminine, and neuter nouns, i.e. for all groups that do not include men or personal masculine nouns.
   • 1975, Maria Zagórska Brooks, Polish Reference Grammar (page 317)‎^[4]:

     The nonvirile form is used for nouns of masculine gender not referring to human beings and for neuter and feminine gender nouns. […] Numerals from five through ten distinguish between two forms: the form for virile gender nouns and the form for nonvirile gender nouns which the numerals quantify.

Antonyms

• virile