homosexual

[hoh-muh-sek-shoo-uhl, -seks-yoo-]

adjective

1. Often Disparaging and Offensive.,  sexually attracted to people of one's own sex or gender; gay.

   homosexual couples.

2. Often Disparaging and Offensive.,  of or relating to sexual desire or behavior directed toward people of one's own sex or gender.

3. Archaic.,  of, relating to, or noting the same sex.

   She gave birth to homosexual twins.

noun

1. Often Disparaging and Offensive.

   1. a person, especially a man, who is sexually attracted to people of the same sex or gender.

   2. a person, especially a man, who is sexually attracted exclusively to people of the same sex or gender.

homosexual

/ ˌhɒm-, ˌhəʊməʊˈsɛksjʊəl /

noun

1. a person who is sexually attracted to members of the same sex

adjective

1. of or relating to homosexuals or homosexuality

2. of or relating to the same sex

Usage Alert

Up until 1973, 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 feel that the term homosexual still carries a negative connotation. And many feel that this word places undue emphasis on sexual activity, or that it sounds overly clinical. In fact, homosexual as an adjective and noun has been mostly replaced by gay except in medical or other formal contexts. People who still use homosexual are usually unaware that the term is 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.

Other Word Forms

• antihomosexual adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of homosexual¹

First recorded in 1890–95; homo- + sexual

Example Sentences

“Most homosexuals would not like / For me to admit that it is a social problem,” Whitten writes in the poem “Coming Out In Protest.”

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A few years later, Laws and another presenter on radio station 2UE were found guilty of breaking homosexual vilification laws for referring to a young gay couple using derogatory language.

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Watson was heavily criticised for saying that women should have the right to abort her unborn child if tests proved it would be homosexual.

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Days after he defended the right of religious schools to teach that homosexual relationships were wrong, he went back on himself and admitted he had made a mistake.

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She appears as Alan Turing's mother, who embodies a society that treated homosexual acts as a crime, an attitude that eventually led to his death.

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