neuter

[ noo-ter, nyoo- ]

adjective

1. Grammar.
   1. noting or pertaining to a gender that refers to things classed as neither masculine nor feminine.
   2. (of a verb) intransitive.
2. Zoology, Botany. having no organs of reproduction; without sex; asexual.
3. Zoology. having imperfectly developed sexual organs, as the worker bees and ants.
4. neutral; siding with no one.

noun

1. Grammar.
   1. the neuter gender.
   2. a noun of that gender.
   3. another element marking that gender.
   4. an intransitive verb.
2. an animal made sterile by castration or spaying.
3. Zoology. a neuter insect.
4. a person or thing that is neutral.

verb (used with object)

1. Veterinary Science. to spay or castrate (a dog, cat, etc.).

neuter

/ ˈnjuːtə /

adjective

1. grammar
   1. denoting or belonging to a gender of nouns which for the most part have inanimate referents or do not specify the sex of their referents
   2. ( as noun )

      German ``Mädchen'' (meaning ``girl'') is a neuter

2. (of animals and plants) having nonfunctional, underdeveloped, or absent reproductive organs
3. sexless or giving no indication of sex

   a neuter sort of name

noun

1. a sexually underdeveloped female insect, such as a worker bee
2. a castrated animal, esp a domestic animal
3. a flower in which the stamens and pistil are absent or nonfunctional

verb

1. tr to castrate or spay (an animal)

Word History and Origins

Origin of neuter¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; from Latin neuter “neither (of two),” equivalent to ne “not” + uter “either (of two)”; replacing Middle English neutre, from Middle French, from Latin, as above

Word History and Origins

Origin of neuter¹

C14: from Latin, from ne not + uter either (of two)

Example Sentences

In Issie Lapowsky’s article for Protocol, she goes over the debates that neutered Do Not Track and how essentially the same thing is going on now with initiatives that seek to replace third-party cookies.

From Search Engine Land

A righteous uproar ensued, with complaints that the website diminished the labor of these bloggers, stole their ad revenue, and neutered their IP, all without consent.

From Eater

She brought back some of the agreeable ones for adoption and started capturing and neutering others.

From Washington Post

In the past decade, she said, 380 of the island’s cats have been neutered by her organization, Veterinarians on the Road.

From Washington Post

By the 1970s, spay and neuter technology became more widely used, and animal-welfare groups like the Humane Society of the United States promoted the motto of “legislate, educate, sterilize” to reduce the number of unwanted animals.

From Time

She says the Humane Society would like to enforce spay and neuter laws to the point where there would be no purebred dogs left.

From The Daily Beast

It seeks to neuter the criticism of any lurking Paltrow naysayers wishing to transfer their negativity to Lively.

From The Daily Beast

In a land where resources are scarce, and spay-neuter initiatives are only starting to make inroads, this is not surprising.

From The Daily Beast

Take that away, or neuter the violence too much, and enrollment drops.

From The Daily Beast

Pro: “My God, it is intolerable to think of spending ones whole life, like a neuter bee, working, working & nothing after all.”

From The Daily Beast

The word mistranslated “greater,” πλεῖον, is neuter and cannot be applied to a man.

From Project Gutenberg

In my rendering of this the pronoun "his" must be understood in its old English latitude as either neuter or masculine.

From Project Gutenberg

The neuter of Myrmica rubra, another ant, has no ocelli or stemmata, although the male and female are provided with them.

From Project Gutenberg

Mtzner translates quia situm est in malo, treating ille as a neuter noun, evil.

From Project Gutenberg

To grumble, as Cox pointed out to Mrs. Bouncer, is a verb neuter meaning to complain without a cause.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• castrate
• mutilate
• spay
• sterilize