homosexual
[hoh-muh-sek-shoo-uh l or, esp. British, -seks-yoo-]
- Older Use: Sometimes Disparaging. sexually attracted to members of one's own sex: homosexual students.
- Older Use: Sometimes Disparaging. of or relating to sexual desire or behavior directed toward members of one's own sex: the homosexual subculture.
- Archaic. of, relating to, or noting the same sex: pregnant with homosexual twins.
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- Older Use: Sometimes Disparaging. a homosexual person.
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Origin of homosexual
Usage note
Up until 1986, homosexuality was listed in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), psychiatry's standard reference on the classification of mental illness. People aware of this former categorization may feel that the term homosexual stills carries a negative connotation. And some feel that this word places undue emphasis on sexual activity, or that it sounds overly clinical. In fact, homosexual as an adjective and noun is somewhat dated, except in medical and other formal contexts; the term gay has mostly replaced it. People who still use homosexual are usually unaware that the term may be a sensitive one, although some do use it with intent to cause offense. However, not all members of the gay community object to it. See also gay.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for homosexual
Contemporary Examples
Homosexual acts come naturally to them, heterosexual acts do not.
The Vatican's Same-Sex Synod: The Bishops Hear About Reality. Do They Listen?Barbie Latza Nadeau
October 12, 2014
Okay, but still, “Homosexual persons are called to chastity.”
Homosexual conduct between consenting adults is legal in Turkey, but far from accepted.
In March 2009, Lively arrived in Uganda to headline the “Seminar on Exposing the Homosexual Agenda.”
Stanley Kauffman in the Times complained of “Homosexual Drama and Its Disguises.”
Historical Examples
Homosexual practices everywhere flourish and abound in prisons.
Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2 (of 6)Havelock Ellis
Homosexual relationships are also a cause of suicide among women.
Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2 (of 6)Havelock Ellis
Homosexual intimacies between girls are far more often platonic than similar intimacies between boys.
The Sexual Life of the ChildAlbert Moll
Homosexual Eros has a different finality than heterosexual Eros.
The Civilization of IlliteracyMihai Nadin
Homosexual choice of object is originally more natural to narcism than the heterosexual.
A General Introduction to PsychoanalysisSigmund Freud
homosexual
- a person who is sexually attracted to members of the same sex
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- of or relating to homosexuals or homosexuality
- of or relating to the same sex
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Compare heterosexual
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for homosexual
adj.
1892, in C.G. Chaddock's translation of Krafft-Ebing's "Psychopathia Sexualis," from German homosexual, homosexuale (by 1880, in Gustav Jäger), from homo-, comb. form of Greek homos "same" (see homo- (1)) + Latin-based sexual.
"Homosexual" is a barbarously hybrid word, and I claim no responsibility for it. It is, however, convenient, and now widely used. "Homogenic" has been suggested as a substitute. [H. Havelock Ellis, "Studies in Psychology," 1897]
Sexual inversion (1883) was an earlier clinical term for it in English. The noun is recorded by 1895. In technical use, either male or female; but in non-technical use almost always male. Slang shortened form homo first attested 1929.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
homosexual
(hō′mə-sĕk′shōō-əl, -mō-)- Of, relating to, or having a sexual orientation to persons of the same sex.
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- A homosexual person; a gay man or a lesbian.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.