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homosexual

[ hoh-muh-sek-shoo-uhlor, especially British, -seks-yoo- ]

adjective

  1. Often Disparaging and Offensive. sexually attracted to people of one's own sex or gender; gay:

    homosexual couples.

  2. Often Disparaging and Offensive. of or relating to sexual desire or behavior directed toward people of one's own sex or gender.
  3. Archaic. of, relating to, or noting the same sex:

    She gave birth to homosexual twins.



noun

  1. Often Disparaging and Offensive.
    1. a person, especially a man, who is sexually attracted to people of the same sex or gender.
    2. a person, especially a man, who is sexually attracted exclusively to people of the same sex or gender.

homosexual

/ ˌhɒm-; ˌhəʊməʊˈsɛksjʊəl /

noun

  1. a person who is sexually attracted to members of the same sex


adjective

  1. of or relating to homosexuals or homosexuality
  2. of or relating to the same sex

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Usage Alert

Up until 1973, homosexuality was listed in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), psychiatry's standard reference on the classification of mental illness. People aware of this former categorization feel that the term homosexual still carries a negative connotation. And many feel that this word places undue emphasis on sexual activity, or that it sounds overly clinical. In fact, homosexual as an adjective and noun has been mostly replaced by gay except in medical or other formal contexts. People who still use homosexual are usually unaware that the term is a sensitive one, although some do use it with intent to cause offense. However, not all members of the gay community object to it. gay.

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Other Words From

  • an·ti·ho·mo·sex·u·al adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of homosexual1

First recorded in 1890–95; homo- + sexual

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Example Sentences

Immanuel Christian School doesn’t just have policies excluding LGBTQ people, but declares in its employment application “homosexual acts and lifestyles are clearly perversion and reprehensible in the sight of God.”

The students implicated in the affair were called in one by one and accused of participating in homosexual activities before being expelled.

The confinement somehow helped me to stay away from society that did not tire of making me feel bad about my obvious homosexual condition in much of my youth.

I am talking about the 80s, when things were seen from a very different point of view and to be homosexual in that time was the worst.

In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois.

Homosexual acts come naturally to them, heterosexual acts do not.

Okay, but still, “Homosexual persons are called to chastity.”

Homosexual conduct between consenting adults is legal in Turkey, but far from accepted.

In March 2009, Lively arrived in Uganda to headline the “Seminar on Exposing the Homosexual Agenda.”

Stanley Kauffman in the Times complained of “Homosexual Drama and Its Disguises.”

Homosexual intimacies between girls are far more often platonic than similar intimacies between boys.

Homosexual Eros has a different finality than heterosexual Eros.

Homosexual choice of object is originally more natural to narcism than the heterosexual.

Homosexual love has played a much greater part in the world's history than is generally believed.

Homosexual practices everywhere flourish and abound in prisons.

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homoscedastichomosexuality