heterosexual
Americanadjective
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of, relating to, or exhibiting heterosexuality, sexual desire or behavior directed toward people of the other binary gender.
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Biology. of or relating to different sexes.
heterosexual fraternal twins.
noun
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heterosexuals
plural
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of heterosexual
Explanation
A heterosexual person is attracted to people of the opposite sex. Boys who like girls and women who like men are heterosexual. Being heterosexual has long been considered "normal" in our society. When you think of a married couple or parents, it's usually been a man and woman — in other words, a heterosexual couple. However, being heterosexual is only one sexual orientation. Other people are gay, or homosexual. Our culture is slowly starting to accept that heterosexuality isn't the only acceptable sexual orientation. Another word for heterosexual is straight.
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.
See Examples For:
According to Pew, 88% of partnered bisexuals are in heterosexual relationships.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026
Must we really dwell, ladies, on the downsides of heterosexual dating, marriage, childbearing, and domestic labor as though they are issues of life and death?
From Salon ● Jun. 3, 2026
Slemrod surmised that by 2030, the number of man-first tax returns might be 3 to 4 percentage points lower, or about 85% of heterosexual married couples.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 23, 2026
That sense of safety also comes from the level playing field in gay romance - it does not have the fixed gender roles and stereotypes present in heterosexual love stories.
From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2026
The women of Raskova’s regiments, with Soviet society reinforcing their heterosexual standards, felt that marriage was acceptable; but affairs were not.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
In 2021, Australian biologist Brendan Zietsch and colleagues presented evidence that heterosexuals carrying same-sex-associated alleles have more sexual partners than those not carrying the variants.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 3, 2024
Last year the number of heterosexuals newly-diagnosed with HIV was higher than in gay and bisexual men in Scotland for the first time in 15 years, according to data from Public Health Scotland.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2023
While 69% of heterosexuals described their physical health as “good” or “excellent,” only half of their non-straight peers said the same.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 29, 2023
“Every night he introduced me with shining words to these walls of heterosexuals all over the world,” Anohni intoned, as a drummer in the park bashed away in the distance.
From New York Times ● Jun. 27, 2023
I want heterosexuals to love the book too, but I’m not changing the depiction of this world to meet their sensibilities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2022
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.
