sexist

American  

[sek-sist] / ˈsɛk sɪst /

adjective

1. relating to, involving, or fostering sexism, or attitudes and behavior toward someone based on the person's gender.

   a sexist remark;

   sexist advertising.

2. relating to discrimination or devaluation based on a person's sex or gender, especially such discrimination directed against women.

   A sexist work culture contributes to restricted job opportunities for women.

3. reflecting or exhibiting ingrained or institutionalized prejudice against women.

4. reflecting or exhibiting hatred, dislike, or mistrust of women; misogynistic.

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noun

• sexists
  plural

1. a person who has sexist attitudes or behaves in a sexist manner.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• sexists
  plural

Etymology

Origin of sexist

First recorded in 1965–70; sex + -ist, on the model of racist ( def. )

Explanation

A sexist is someone who discriminates on the basis of gender. Sexist people and laws are unfair. Like racist and homophobic, this word refers to a type of hatred or discrimination: in this case, on the basis of gender. Usually, sexist people and laws discriminate against women. Back when women couldn't vote, wear pants, or own property, you could say that the world was pretty sexist. Likewise, before all-women Vassar College began admitting men, it was accused of having sexist policies. Treating a man or woman differently just because they're male or female is sexist.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sexist sexists

Denver Quarterly evidently bars material that lays bare social evils, since “we do not tolerate submissions that contain hate speech, bigotry, discrimination, or racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, or ableist language or violence of any kind.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 28, 2026

If the narrative that Gen Z is uniquely progressive were true, we would expect Gen Z–ers to be more progressive than older generations by outright rejecting sexist statements.

From Slate ● Jan. 6, 2026

Or, as Kilmartin puts it: “It’s a show where you can see a ton of great, experienced female and nonbinary comics, one after the other. Not a single lazy, sexist dud in the bunch.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2025

But the tribunal found there was nothing that "could reasonably be perceived as sexist or misogynistic".

From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2025

Because whatever you’ve heard about the Latin woman needing to be saved from her sexist man is not entirely true.

From "Bodega Dreams" by Ernesto Quinonez

The band's social justice stance was made abundantly clear in the liner notes for the 1992 compilation Incesticide, which warned sexists, racists and homophobes would not be welcome to sweat in their particular mosh pit.

From Salon ● Sep. 24, 2021

The performer has just tried out for a role as the first major gay superhero in a Hollywood feature, an avenger “who fights racists, sexists and homophobes.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2020

We feel entitled to make moral judgments about people who use racist or sexists insults.

From New York Times ● Apr. 25, 2017

In a new, meticulously researched biography, “A Rather Haunted Life,” Ruth Franklin sets out to rescue Jackson from the sexists and the genre snobs who have consigned her to a dungeon of kooky, spooky middlebrow-ness.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 10, 2016

And I don’t mean to say the world is filled with racists or sexists or homophobes.

From "Ask the Passengers" by A.S. King

Related Words

• bigoted
• discriminatory
• dogmatic
• intolerant
• intransigent
• one-sided
• opinionated
• racist
• xenophobic