emasculate
verb
[ ɪˈmaskjʊleɪt ]
• deprive (a man) of his male role or identity.
• "in his mind, her success emasculated him"
• make (someone or something) weaker or less effective.
• "the refusal to allow them to testify effectively emasculated the committee"
Similar:
weaken,
make feeble/feebler,
debilitate,
enfeeble,
enervate,
dilute,
erode,
undermine,
impoverish,
cripple,
reduce the powers of,
remove the sting from,
pull the teeth of,
water down,
Origin:
early 17th century: from Latin emasculat- ‘castrated’, from the verb emasculare, from e- (variant of ex-, expressing a change of state) + masculus ‘male’.
