Word.ws English Dictionary

mansplaining

Syllables: man·splain·ing/ˈmanˌspleɪnɪŋ/US/ˈmænˌspleɪnɪŋ/

mansplaining noun: the act of condescendingly explaining something, particularly by a man to a woman, in order to appear knowledgeable, or from a mistaken presumption that she has an inferior understanding of the topic. Also the present participle and gerund of mansplain.

Noun

mansplaining (uncountable)

  1. (derogatory, slang) The act of condescendingly explaining something, particularly by a man to a woman, in order to appear knowledgeable, or from a mistaken presumption that she has an inferior understanding of the topic.
    • Mansplaining isn't just the act of explaining while male, of course; many men manage to explain things every day without in the least insulting their listeners... Mansplaining is when a dude tells you, a woman, how to do something you already know how to do, or how you are wrong about something you...2009 May 8, Karen Healey, “A woman's born to weep and fret”, in Karen Healey's Livejournal
    • It's hard to appreciate the full pathological depths of mansplaining unless you've read late-period Heinlein, an experience comparable to being trapped in an elevator for six hours with a boorish know-it-all offering his theories on economics, politics, sex, aesthetics, military strategy, investing...2014 December 1, Jeet Heer, Sweet Lechery: Reviews, Essays & Profiles, The Porcupine's Quill, →ISBN, page 179

Also used as

mansplaining is also the present participle and gerund of mansplain.

Examples of mansplaining in a sentence

  • Mansplaining isn't just the act of explaining while male, of course; many men manage to explain things every day without in the least insulting their listeners...2009 May 8, Karen Healey, “A woman's born to weep and fret”, in Karen Healey's Livejournal:
  • “Cognitive therapy” is the fancy clinical term for what is otherwise known as “mansplaining.”2015 December 7, James Taranto, “You're Being Hysterical. Calm Down.”, in The Wall Street Journal:

Origin of mansplaining

Blend of man + explaining, or from mansplain + -ing.

Words that rhyme with mansplaining

13 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about mansplaining

What does mansplaining mean?
Mansplaining means the act of condescendingly explaining something, particularly by a man to a woman, in order to appear knowledgeable, or from a mistaken presumption that she has an inferior understanding of the topic.
How do you use mansplaining in a sentence?
Mansplaining isn't just the act of explaining while male, of course; many men manage to explain things every day without in the least insulting their listeners...
What part of speech is mansplaining?
Mansplaining is a noun.
How do you pronounce mansplaining?
Mansplaining is pronounced /ˈmanˌspleɪnɪŋ/ (UK).

Words near mansplaining in the dictionary

  1. manspeak
  2. mansplain
  3. mansplained
  4. mansplainer
  5. mansplainers
  6. mansplaining
  7. mansplains
  8. mansplainy
  9. mansplanation
  10. mansplanations
  11. mansplay

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mansplaining (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-mansplaining.wav.

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