gaydar

American  

[gey-dahr] / ˈgeɪ dɑr /

noun

Informal.

1. a person's purported intuitive or sensing ability to identify gay people.

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gaydar British  

/ ˈɡeɪdɑː /

noun

1. informal the supposed ability of a homosexual person to recognize whether another person is homosexual

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Etymology

Origin of gaydar

First recorded in 1980–85; gay ( def. ) + (ra)dar ( def. )

Example Sentences

I’m not sure what the straight equivalent of gaydar is — “straightdar” just doesn’t have the same ring — but I am pretty sure I don’t have it.

From Los Angeles Times

Even though my gaydar immediately found the queers in the room.

From Los Angeles Times

He also fronted a show on sister station Scala Radio, and helped launch the UK's first LGBT+ station Gaydar Radio, as creative director in 2001.

From BBC

It’s hard to know whether she was conscious of it — gaydar? — but in retrospect, it reflects a feminist understanding that homophobia is an element of the misogyny she herself had faced.

From Los Angeles Times

"If you go through it, for many of us, it will tweak our gaydar looking at those 1950s issues - because there seems to be more bare-chested men than you'd expect," says Prof Bengry.

From BBC