manlinessnoun: the quality or state of being manly (as by having qualities such as strength or virility that are traditionally associated with a man)They'd been trained to identify emotional repression as the essence of manliness. Men who broke down, or cried, or admitted to feeling fear, were sissies, weaklings, failures. Not men.—Pat Barker… the angular manliness of her gestures … —John Colapinto