epicene
Americanadjective
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lacking the typical characteristics of a particular gender or sex; sexless.
Fashions in clothing are becoming increasingly epicene.
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an epicene style of writing.
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effeminate; unmasculine.
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(of Greek and Latin nouns) of the same gender class regardless of the sex of the individual referred to, as the grammatically feminine Latin vulpēs “fox.”
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Grammar. (of a noun or pronoun) capable of referring to any individual regardless of sex, as attendant, chairperson, Pat, one, or they; having common gender.
noun
adjective
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having the characteristics of both sexes; hermaphroditic
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of neither sex; sexless
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effeminate
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grammar
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denoting a noun that may refer to a male or a female, such as teacher as opposed to businessman or shepherd
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(in Latin, Greek, etc) denoting a noun that retains the same grammatical gender regardless of the sex of the referent
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noun
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an epicene person or creature
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an epicene noun
Other Word Forms
- epicenism noun
Etymology
Origin of epicene
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin epicoenus “of both genders,” from Greek epíkoinos “common to many,” equivalent to epi- epi- + koinós “common”
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.
In “Los Angeles Plays Itself,” still the best documentary ever made about the city and its architecture, director Thom Andersen wonders why “modernist architecture connotes epicene villainy” in so many movies.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 6, 2017
Setting thin, epicene Aubrey Beardsley-like figures against colorful art deco backgrounds, Nielsen was one of the most admired early 20th-century book illustrators, the equal to Edmund Dulac and Arthur Rackham.
From Washington Post • Dec. 7, 2015
Then we realized Toby is an epicene name and we’d been thinking of Toby Flenderson, the officious bureaucrat from NBC’s “The Office.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 2, 2015
Isn’t he the swivel-hipped song-and-dance man who won a Tony Award in 2004 playing the epicene entertainer Peter Allen in “The Boy From Oz”?
From New York Times • Dec. 8, 2011
They looked very much alike, with heavy dark-blond hair and epicene faces as clear, as cheerful and grave, as a couple of Flemish angels.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
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.
