How to use femme in a sentence

33 example sentences · noun, adjective, verb

Femme means a woman; a wife; (now chiefly Canada, US) a young woman or girl. Example: “Her style was more femme than butch.”

Examples of femme by meaning

nounA lesbian or other queer woman whose appearance, identity etc. is seen as feminine as opposed to butch.

It was no longer a question of butch vs. femme, liberations vs. oppression.1986 [1984], Armistead Maupin, Babycakes (Tales of the City), pages 64–65
“Hey, femme, you wanna dance with a real butch?”1993, Leslie Feinberg, Stone Butch Blues, Los Angeles: Alyson Books, published 2003, →ISBN, page 32
Given the myth that lesbian femmes will eventually leave their butches for men, there is an understandable unwillingness to acknowledge bisexual femmes, who really might do it — as indeed they have every right to.1997, Bi Academic Intervention, Bisexual Imaginary: Representation, Identity, and Desire, A&C Black, →ISBN, page 207

nounA person whose gender is feminine-leaning, such as a feminine non-binary person.

Jordan-Zachery offers two dominant scripts that are often written onto Black women's, femmes', and girls' bodies: The Ass and Strong Black Woman scripts.2019, Black Girl Magic Beyond the Hashtag (Julia S. Jordan-Zachery, Duchess Harris), page 21

adjectivePertaining to a femme; feminine, female.

Admittedly, Kiedis was concerned about the lack of femme rockers on the bill: the only women featured were in British band Lush, who would open each day's festivities before a few hundred curious onlookers.2009, Jeff Apter, Fornication: The Red Hot Chili Peppers Story
High heels are something like neckties for women, in that it can be harder to look both formal and femme without them.2019 March 20, Summer Brennan, “Sex, power, oppression: why women wear high heels”, in The Guardian

adjectiveCharacteristic of a feminine lesbian or queer woman.

Her style was more femme than butch.
"We want to base our relationships on who we are now, not who we once were" says radical femme bisexual Linda Moore.1992, Deneuve

verbTo feminize.

I sometimes use the term fear of being femmed to describe the general anxiety or homophobia that Kimmel describes.2011, Michael E. Addis, Invisible Men: Men's Inner Lives and the Consequences of Silence, page 195
“We’re an endless loop: girls femming girls femming girls.2024, Alyson Greaves, Welcome to Dorley Hall

More sentences with femme

Our group had the attention of every stud, AG (aggressive girl), femme, and butch in the place.2019, Ben Burgess Jr., Wounded. From the entry ag
So let the show begin, black femme cisters, unleash your pinks and let the show begin!2018, Omise'eke Natasha Tinsley, Ezili's Mirrors: Imagining Black Queer Genders, unnumbered page. From the entry cister
And being femme doesn't mean Cindy can't be the jar-opener in the family.2011, Ivan Coyote, Zena Sharman, Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme - Page 52. From the entry jar opener
Created by DC Comics and featured in Batman, supervillainess Poison Ivy is a potent femme fatale.2005, Lois H Gresh, Robert E Weinberg, The Science of Supervillains. From the entry supervillainess
When you dressed androgynously, did others still perceive you as a femme?1997 July 15, “Pronouns, Politics, and Femme Practice: An Interview with Minnie Bruce Pratt”, in Laura Harris, Elizabeth Crocker, editors…. From the entry androgynously
He is, reputedly, a dashing Casanova and receives oh so many letters from oh so many femmes.1997, Hugh Aaron, Letters from the Good War: A Young Man's Discovery of the World, Stones Point Press, →ISBN, page 314. From the entry oh so
I learned that last phrase from a femme passifan Miss Marlene Maples.1948 December, J. Harmon, Thrilling Wonder Stories, volume 33, number 2. From the entry passifan
My conceptualization of neuroqueer technoscience is also strongly influenced by 3 my own experiences as a multiply neurodivergent queer femme.2022, Jessica Sage Rauchberg, “Imagining a Neuroqueer Technoscience”, in Studies in Social Justice, volume 16, number 2, page 372. From the entry neuroqueer
“Genderflux femme means I'm more and less femme.2019, Ann Roberts, In the Silences, Bella Books, →ISBN. From the entry genderflux
Many femmes made sure to point out they were not “pillow princesses,” meaning they are not just receivers.2014, Joey Cooter, Butch, Femme, or Neither? What Owning These Identities Means, Johnson City, Tennessee: East Tennessee State University…. From the entry pillow princess
I am a tweener dyke and more butch than femme.2011, Laurie Penny, Meat Market: Female Flesh Under Capitalism (John Hunt Publishing), quoting Marja Erwin. From the entry trans womyn
"I like the young, andro look, but I've dated across the board—butches, femmes, trannies—and that really bothers Clara.2004, New York. From the entry across the board
Obviously, the male, Anglo, middle-class, "no fats or femmes" youth culture is less open to confronting abilism than the lesbian community.1982 April 17, Teresa Davidson, “Dealing With Disability”, in Gay Community News, page 3. From the entry abilism
Behaving like some ludicrous little underage femme fatale?1972, Jay Presson Allen, Cabaret, spoken by Brian Roberts (Michael York). From the entry femme fatale
Here was a picture whose screen fortunes must have caused much uncertainty as to the femme fan reaction.1931 February 18, Alfred Rushford Greason, “Dracula”, in Variety. From the entry femme fan
If pink is a little too femme for your taste, this sequin number is available in a sophisticated copper shade as well.2022 December 18, Laura White, “The Sparkliest, Spangliest Holiday Frocks At Target”, in HuffPost. From the entry Barbiecore
"Even within the international fatosphere and rad places of the internet, a lot of the fat femme people have perfectly chiseled faces.2017 June 12, Marie Southard Ospina, “A Body Project: Cynthia Rodriguez On Their Chin(s)”, in Bustle. From the entry deathfat
I know other trans womyn who are solidly butch, and others who are totally femme, and, of course, the equivalents among straight and bi womyn.2011, Laurie Penny, Meat Market: Female Flesh Under Capitalism (John Hunt Publishing), quoting Marja Erwin. From the entry trans womyn
At the beginning of the twenty-first century the physically adept aggro femme had become a recurring motif in new circus and physical theatre.2005, Peta Tait, Circus Bodies: cultural identity in aerial performance, page 131. From the entry aggro
Some femmes share heterosexual pasts, some pass through butchness before they arrive at femmeness, some move back and forth between boy identities and woman identities.1998, Sally Munt, Cherry Smyth, Butch/femme: Inside Lesbian Gender, page 61. From the entry femmeness
Both reviews singled out the fact that Como's songs were greeted by a "frenzied screaming from the teenage femme fan fringe that follows Como around."c. 1953, Malcolm Macfarlane, Ken Crossland, Perry Como: A Biography and Complete Career Record, published 2009, →ISBN, page 86. From the entry femme fan
In ethical-prescriptive terms, this would be interpreted as meaning that all femmes must become as butch as possible, and all butches must work their hardest to become flaming queens.2006, Dale B. Martin, Sex and the Single Savior: Gender and Sexuality in Biblical Interpretation, Westminster John Knox Press, →ISBN, page…. From the entry flaming queen
The fiery femme fatale is notorious for losing her cool, and was once accused of hitting her secretary with a telephone and threatening to throw her from a moving car.2006 April 28, Stefanie Cohen, “Naomi Campbell Accused of Attacking Maid in Fit Over Jeans”, in FOXNews.com, retrieved 03 Jun 2009. From the entry lose one's cool

Meaning of femme

noun A woman; a wife; (now chiefly Canada, US) a young woman or girl.
noun A lesbian or other queer woman whose appearance, identity etc. is seen as feminine as opposed to butch.
noun A person whose gender is feminine-leaning, such as a feminine non-binary person.

Full definition of femme

Questions about femme in a sentence

How do you use femme in a sentence?: Femme is used as a noun, adjective and verb. For example: “Her style was more femme than butch.”
What is a short sentence with femme?: “Her style was more femme than butch.”
What does femme mean?: Femme means a woman; a wife; (now chiefly Canada, US) a young woman or girl.

Adapted from Wiktionary: femme (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use femme in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/femme. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.