lesbian
lesbian
American
[lez-bee-uhn]
/ ˈlɛz bi ən /
noun
-
lesbians
plural
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-
a woman who is sexually or romantically attracted to other women; a gay woman.
-
a woman who is sexually or romantically attracted exclusively to other women; a gay woman.
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Lesbian, an inhabitant of the island of Lesbos.
adjective
-
-
of, relating to, or being a woman who is sexually or romantically attracted to people of her own sex or gender.
-
of, relating to, or being a woman who is sexually or romantically attracted exclusively to people of her own sex or gender.
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-
Lesbian, of or relating to Lesbos.
Lesbian
1
British
/ ˈlɛzbɪən /
noun
-
a native or inhabitant of Lesbos
-
the Aeolic dialect of Ancient Greek spoken in Lesbos
adjective
-
of or relating to Lesbos
-
of or relating to the poetry of Lesbos, esp that of Sappho
lesbian
2
British
/ ˈlɛzbɪən /
noun
adjective
lesbian
Cultural
Usage
What's the difference between lesbian and Sapphic? See gay ( def. ).
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of lesbian
First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin Lesbi(us) “Lesbian” (from Greek Lésbios, equivalent to Lésb(os) “Lesbos” ( see Lesbos) + -ios adjective suffix) + -an; lesbian defs. 1, 3 allude to the poet Sappho of Lesbos, whose verse deals largely with her emotional relationships with other women
Explanation
A lesbian is a woman who is attracted to other women. Two married women are in a lesbian relationship. This is a word for women who are homosexual. Though homosexual women are often called gay, it's more common to call them lesbians. Lesbians are sexually attracted to other women. You can also use this word as an adjective. For example, a gay female director is a lesbian film maker. There could also be a book of lesbian fiction. This word comes from the name of the island of Lesbos, whose famous poet Sappho was believed to be a lesbian.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
To the best of their knowledge, they are the only openly lesbian and gay direct descendants of Jefferson and Hemings.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026
Six years ago, the transgender-rights movement won a landmark victory when the high court ruled that the Civil Rights Act’s prohibition on sex discrimination in the workplace extends to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
Amanda Nunes, the greatest female MMA fighter of all time, is an out lesbian from Brazil.
From Slate ● Jun. 14, 2026
The theme of forbidden gay and lesbian love runs throughout.
From Barron's ● May 13, 2026
They were married by a lesbian justice of the peace while their friends played a guitar-feedback-heavy version of the “Wedding March.”
From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman
Lesbian and Gay History and Muslim Masculinities, absorbing everything my instructors had to say about “queerness”—until I learned what they actually meant by the term.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 2, 2026
“That was so unexpected and extraordinary and impressive,” he said last week, in a phone call from Texas, where he works as legal director of the San Francisco–based National Center for Lesbian Rights.
From Slate ● Jul. 29, 2024
During a primetime special, he showed a video clip of me and my boyfriend kissing on the National Mall, taken during the National March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights.
From Salon ● Dec. 28, 2023
Her essays were eventually collected and published in 2000 under the title “My Dangerous Desires: A Queer Girl Dreaming Her Way Home,” which was awarded the Publishing Triangle Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2023
The letter was from two groups that might have been expected to support O’Malley’s decision to charge Richard as an adult: the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Transgender Law Center.
From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater
Grace is now 34 and runs a charity, the Uganda Minority Shelters Consortium, which provides safe housing to gay men and lesbians across Uganda.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 22, 2026
Modern lesbians could only hope to be so fortunate.
From Salon ● Feb. 13, 2026
Reformatories were institutions where girls and young women who refused to conform to the Franco regime's Catholic values were detained - single mothers, girls with boyfriends, lesbians.
From BBC ● Nov. 15, 2025
Although Britain began decriminalising homosexuality for men in 1967, a ban on gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people serving in the military lasted until 2000.
From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2025
After my third reading of The Well of Loneliness I became a bleeding heart for the downtrodden misunderstood lesbians.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
