Dictionary

macho-ish en · ADJ

Etymology

From macho + -ish.

Meanings

1. (informal) Somewhat macho.
   • The pop songs, which also included hits by the feathery-voiced chanteuse IU and the macho-ish boy-band Bigbang,^([sic]) were aimed at giving North Koreans get a taste of South Korean youth culture, the ministry [i.e., the South’s Defense Ministry] said. 2015 August 31, Choe Sang-Hun, “To Jar North, South Korea Used a Pop-Music Barrage”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 01 Sep 2015:
   • The macho-ish option: For lashings of pampering, mixed with a dab of grizzle, try Argentina. 2012 February 9, “Trips of a lifetime”, in The Times, London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Aug 2025:
   • A collector of guns and knives, [Charles Alvin] Beckwith testified that he read Soldier of Fortune mostly for its gun and knife reviews. He rarely looked at the personal-services ads, and had never suspected any criminal intent. “You read one of these, it sounds so macho-ish,” he said. “It just didn’t make my heart beat fast, so I’d go on to something else that did, that caught my attention.” 1992 January, Ben Green, “Part Seven: Graven Images”, in The Soldier of Fortune Murders: A True Story of Obsessive Love and Murder-for-Hire, New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, →ISBN, section 2, pages 441–442:
   • Good looking, tall, macho-ish and strong but with a soft heart and a witty tongue. 2001 September 14, mogliettina_1, quotee, “A Portrait of One Forum’s Grief”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, published 11 September 2002, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Mar 2021:

Forms