mansplain
Syllables: man·splainUK/ˈmanˌspleɪn/US/ˈmænˌspleɪn/
mansplain verb: to explain (something) condescendingly (to a female listener), especially to explain something the listener already knows, presuming that she has an inferior understanding of it merely because she is female.
Verb
mansplain (third-person singular simple present mansplains, present participle mansplaining, simple past and past participle mansplained)
- To explain (something) condescendingly (to a female listener), especially to explain something the listener already knows, presuming that she has an inferior understanding of it merely because she is female.
- But what's getting all of the attention in the bill is the part where legislators have banded together to mansplain the various shadings of the crime of "rape" to America.2011 February 1, Jason Linkins, “What’s behind the drive to redefine rape in new and insane ways?”, in The Huffington Post, archived from the original on 01 Apr 2016
- There were some Occupy-style solutions: those whose voices dominate should “step back” for an entire meeting. […] Men should notice when they are “mansplaining” (this one got a thunderous ovation).2012 May 18, Sarah Seltzer, “Can Occupy fight back against the war on women?”, in The Nation, archived from the original on 14 Aug 2013
Forms of mansplain
| third-person singular present | mansplains |
|---|---|
| present participle | mansplaining |
| past participle | mansplained |
| past | mansplained |
Origin of mansplain
Blend of man + explain, equivalent to man + -splain.
Words formed from mansplain
Words that rhyme with mansplain
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- drain
- pane
- gain
- main
- sustain
- vein
- entertain
- skein
- Wayne
- abstain
- bane
- campaign
- champagne
- crane
- entrain
- fain
- insane
- maine
- pain
- plane
- stain
- wane
- Aquitaine
- ascertain
- chicane
- contain
- detain
- explain
- maintain
- mundane
- obtain
- refrain
- remain
- vane
- amain
- arcane
- Blaine
- complain
- deign
- detrain
- distrain
- kane
- ordain
- pertain
- profane
- public domain
- reign
- swain
Questions about mansplain
- What does mansplain mean?
- Mansplain means to explain (something) condescendingly (to a female listener), especially to explain something the listener already knows, presuming that she has an inferior understanding of it merely because she is female.
- What part of speech is mansplain?
- Mansplain is a verb.
- How do you pronounce mansplain?
- Mansplain is pronounced /ˈmanˌspleɪn/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of mansplain?
- The past tense of mansplain is mansplained.
Words near mansplain in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: mansplain (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-mansplain.ogg.
Cite this entry: “mansplain.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mansplain. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
