Word.ws English Dictionary

like a man

like a man prepositional phrase: bravely, decisively, and without complaining.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (colloquial, simile) Bravely, decisively, and without complaining.
    • Don't be a wimp: deal with it like a man!

Origin of like a man

From Middle English lyke a man (“in the manner of a man, in accordance with man”).

Questions about like a man

What does like a man mean?
Like a man means bravely, decisively, and without complaining.
What part of speech is like a man?
Like a man is a prepositional phrase.

Words near like a man in the dictionary

  1. like a kid at Christmas
  2. like a kid in a candy store
  3. like a kid on Christmas morning
  4. like a knife through butter
  5. like a lamb to the slaughter
  6. like a man
  7. like a man possessed
  8. like a martin to his gourd
  9. like a martin to its gourd
  10. like a million bucks
  11. like a million dollars

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: like a man (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-like a man.ogg.

Cite this entry: “like a man.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/like_a_man. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.