gender-neutral

American  

[jen-der-noo-truhl, -nyoo-] / ˈdʒɛn dərˈnu trəl, -ˈnyu- /

adjective

1. noting or relating to a word or phrase that does not refer to one gender only.

   Firefighter and flight attendant are gender-neutral terms.

2. using words wherever appropriate that are free of reference to gender.

   gender-neutral language.

3. relating to, intended for, or common to any gender.

   a nursery decorated with gender-neutral colors.

4. noting or relating to a person of neutral gender, neither male nor female.

   raising a gender-neutral child to avoid gender stereotypes.

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Example Sentences

On the ground floor, the building’s open-air male and female changing rooms will merge into one larger indoor gender-neutral area with private changing rooms and toilet stalls, Kingsnorth said.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 20, 2026

Kingsnorth said the gender-neutral dressing room design was not mandated by state or federal restrictions but was a priority for the city’s Recreation and Parks Department.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 20, 2026

One page shows Kate in a gender-neutral bathroom, saying, “My friends defend my choices and place. A bathroom, like all rooms, should be a safe space.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 27, 2025

Figures obtained by BBC Scotland News by freedom of information requests found 52 schools across 11 council areas offered only gender-neutral toilets.

From BBC • Jun. 13, 2025

Whewell’s motive for raising the issue in print in 1834 may partly have been that ‘scientist’, unlike ‘man of science’, is a gender-neutral term—he was reviewing a book by the science writer Mary Somerville.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton