[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

effete \effete"\, a. l. effetus that has brought forth,
   exhausted; ex + fetus that has brought forth. see fetus.
   no longer capable of producing young, as an animal, or fruit,
   as the earth; hence, worn out with age; exhausted of energy;
   incapable of efficient action; no longer productive; barren;
   sterile.
   1913 webster

         effete results from virile efforts.      --mrs.
                                                  browning
   1913 webster

         if they find the old governments effete, worn out, . .
         . they may seek new ones.                --burke.
   1913 webster
see also:
fetus 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

effete
     adj : marked by excessive self-indulgence and moral decay; "a
           decadent life of excessive money and no sense of
           responsibility"; "a group of effete self-professed
           intellectuals" syn: decadent
see also:
decadent 

[3] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

198 moby thesaurus words for "effete":
   ablated, all in, anemic, arid, asthenic, ausgespielt, barren, blah,
   blank, bleary, bloodless, bootless, burned-out, burnt up,
   characterless, chicken, cold, colorless, coming apart, consumed,
   counterproductive, cowardly, cracking, crumbling, dead,
   debilitated, decadent, decayed, decaying, declining, degenerate,
   depleted, deteriorating, devitalized, disabled, disintegrating,
   dismal, dissipated, dissolute, done, done in, done up, draggy,
   drained, draining, drearisome, dreary, drooping, droopy, dry,
   dryasdust, dull, dusty, dwindling, eaten up, ebbing, elephantine,
   emptied, empty, enervated, enfeebled, eroded, etiolated,
   eviscerated, exhausted, fade, fading, failing, faint, faintish,
   falling, far-gone, fatigued, fatuitous, fatuous, feckless, feeble,
   finished, flabby, flaccid, flagging, flat, floppy, fragmenting,
   frazzled, fruitless, futile, going to pieces, gone, gutless, heavy,
   ho-hum, hollow, imbecile, immoral, impotent, impoverished,
   inadequate, inane, incapacitated, ineffective, ineffectual,
   inefficacious, inexcitable, infecund, infertile, inoperative,
   insipid, invalid, jaded, jejune, laid low, languid, languishing,
   languorous, leaden, lifeless, limber, limp, listless, low-spirited,
   lustless, marcescent, marrowless, nerveless, nugacious, nugatory,
   of no force, out, overripe, pale, pallid, pedestrian, pining,
   pithless, played out, plodding, pointless, poky, ponderous, pooped,
   powerless, regressive, retrograde, retrogressive, rubbery,
   run-down, sapless, sapped, shotten, shriveling, sinewless, sinking,
   slack, sliding, slipping, slow, slumping, soft, solemn, spent,
   spineless, spiritless, sterile, stiff, stodgy, strengthless,
   stuffy, subsiding, superficial, tabetic, tasteless, tedious, tired,
   unavailing, unfruitful, unhardened, unlively, unnerved, unstrung,
   used up, useless, vain, vapid, waning, washed-out, wasted, wasting,
   weak, weakened, weakly, wilting, withering, wooden, worn,
   worn away, worn-out, worsening

Effete >> E Words
Effete, definition of term: Effete
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