Hypertext Webster Gateway: "effete"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
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.
Effete results from virile efforts. --Mrs.
Browning
If they find the old governments effete, worn out, . .
. they may seek new ones. --Burke.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
effete
adj : 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}]
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