Word.ws English Dictionary

mansplay

UK/manˈspleɪ/US/mænˈspleɪ/

mansplay verb: to spread one’s thighs widely while seated, exposing one’s crotch and taking up space from any adjacent seats.

Verb

mansplay (third-person singular simple present mansplays, present participle mansplaying, simple past and past participle mansplayed)

  1. (derogatory, informal, intransitive) To spread one’s thighs widely while seated, exposing one’s crotch and taking up space from any adjacent seats.
    • A copiously tattooed young man in a blue jumpsuit sits mansplayed across from her, shackled to the rail on his side of the hallway, staring at Penny.2024, Christina Lynch, Pony Confidential, Penguin, →ISBN
    Synonyms:
    manspread

Synonyms of mansplay

Forms of mansplay

third-person singular presentmansplays
present participlemansplaying
past participlemansplayed
pastmansplayed

Origin of mansplay

From man + splay, probably by wordplay on mansplain.

Questions about mansplay

What does mansplay mean?
Mansplay means to spread one’s thighs widely while seated, exposing one’s crotch and taking up space from any adjacent seats.
What part of speech is mansplay?
Mansplay is a verb.
How do you pronounce mansplay?
Mansplay is pronounced /manˈspleɪ/ (UK).
What is the past tense of mansplay?
The past tense of mansplay is mansplayed.

Words near mansplay in the dictionary

  1. mansplaining
  2. mansplains
  3. mansplainy
  4. mansplanation
  5. mansplanations
  6. mansplay
  7. mansplayed
  8. mansplaying
  9. manspread
  10. manspreaded
  11. manspreader

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mansplay (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:

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