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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gentle sex

"You see, there are no women in our country; and six months without a word or a smile from your gentle sex makes a man ready to hate himself and his fellow-creatures."

From The Silver Horde by Rex Ellingwood Beach

Never before had the semblance of a woman appeared, never before had an intimation been given that the gentle sex existed in these silent chambers.

From Etidorhpa or the End of Earth. The Strange History of a Mysterious Being and The Account of a Remarkable Journey by John Uri Lloyd

As a lady's companion he is hard to beat; indeed, a glance at any show catalogue will prove that the majority of Borzois are owned by the gentle sex.

From Dogs and All about Them by Robert Leighton

And the gentle sex, especially, would and did tell fortunes almost as jealously as play quadrille and piquet.

From The Square of Sevens An Authoritative Method of Cartomancy with a Prefatory Note by Edward Prime-Stevenson

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

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