sex appeal
Americannoun
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the ability to excite people sexually.
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immediate appeal or obvious potential to interest or excite others, as by appearance, style, or charm.
a house with no sex appeal.
noun
Etymology
Origin of sex appeal
First recorded in 1920–25
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.
I ask Witherspoon how rare it is to see a female character like Maggie, who is not about her sex appeal but rather about her particular skill.
From BBC • Oct. 16, 2025
Gender-swapped comedy stretches from Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” through Monty Python and the last “Ghostbusters,” but Curtis and Lemmon bring their own brand of zaniness and sex appeal to this iteration.
From New York Times • May 28, 2020
Diminutive and wiry, with mournful, beetle-browed eyes and a raspy tenor voice, Mr. Aznavour lacked the rakish sex appeal and ebullience of chanteurs such as Maurice Chevalier and Yves Montand.
From Washington Post • Oct. 1, 2018
“Her publicity is focused more on her own derring-doishness and accomplishments than her sex appeal, much like a modern day Nancy Drew,” Kitty Curran tells TIME.
From Time • Jun. 23, 2016
But neither of you need expect anything,' she says, 'for the wrongs of my sisters have armoured me against the grossness of mere sex appeal.'
From Somewhere in Red Gap by Wilson, Harry Leon
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.
