desex

[dee-seks]

verb (used with object)

1. Veterinary Surgery.,  to castrate or spay.

2. to deprive of sex, sex appeal, or sexual interest.

3. to remove elements of sexism from; degenderize.

   a campaign to desex business writing.

Word History and Origins

Origin of desex¹

First recorded in 1910–15; de- + sex

Example Sentences

It called for desexing the English language, replacing “policeman” with “police officer” and “stewardess” with “flight attendant.”

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Moreover, large numbers of individual dogs will be unable to reproduce because they have been desexed, and so even if individuals manage to survive, they will be at a genetic dead end.

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Their latest study, which is not yet published, examined 35 breeds and mutts and detected no associations between desexing and cancers or joint disorders in small dogs.

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In the novel, Ruth desexes herself, as surely as Lady Macbeth, going from woman to self-described she-devil.

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Are parents just tame animals, housebroken and desexed?

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