gentle sex

American  

Or gentler sex

noun

Older Use: Sometimes Offensive.

1. women in general (usually used facetiously).

   courtesy toward the gentle sex.

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Sensitive Note

This is a dated term, usually used for humorous effect but sometimes perceived as condescending to women. It makes reference to a stereotype of women’s basic nature, namely that women are gentle in comparison to men.

Etymology

Origin of gentle sex

First recorded in 1575–85

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gentle sex

He was called an able man, but his foibles were precisely of the sort to create in the large-hearted of the gentle sex an almost masculine antipathy to their spiritual pastor.

From The Vicissitudes of Bessie Fairfax by Holme Lee

In this, however, we were not singular, as nine in ten of the audience that night, I mean nine in ten of the gentle sex, went to the theatre on foot.

From Satanstoe by James Fenimore Cooper

Christina was gone, and the gentle sex was no longer represented in the monastery of Trooditissa.

From Cyprus, as I Saw It in 1879 by Sir Samuel White Baker

Yes; and I fancy that melancholy air assists him very much in vanquishing the gentle sex.

From The International Magazine, Volume 2, No. 2, January, 1851 by Various

From chance meetings in the street, from stray conversations overheard, he had been led to take an unreasoning dislike to this foreigner, whose attitude towards the gentle sex struck him as that of a cur.

From South Wind by Norman Douglas