unsex
Americanverb (used with object)
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to render (an animal or person) unable to reproduce sexually, as by removing the testicles or ovaries.
A gelding is a male horse that has been unsexed and cannot breed.
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to deprive (oneself or another person) of the qualities or character considered typical or desirable for one's gender.
Those against female suffrage claimed that the right to vote would unsex women, leaving them unable to care for their homes and children.
verb
Etymology
Origin of unsex
Vocabulary lists containing unsex
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Lady Macbeth has no such qualms when she’s summoning evil spirits to unsex her in “Macbeth.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2026
Can a ballot in the hand of woman, and dignity on her brow, more unsex her than do a scepter and a crown?
From History of Woman Suffrage, Volume II by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Let her be true to her own glorious nature, and this attempt to unsex and discrown her will meet with the swift and terrible condemnation it deserves.
From True Woman, The A Series of Discourses by Justin D. Fulton
Can a ballot in the hand of woman and dignity on her brow, more unsex her than do a scepter and a crown?
From The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2) Including Public Addresses, Her Own Letters and Many From Her Contemporaries During Fifty Years by Ida Husted Harper
Come, come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here; And fill me from the crown to the toe, top full Of direst cruelty!
From Shakspere, Personal Recollections by John A. Joyce
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
