weaker sex
Americannoun
noun
Sensitive Note
This is a dated term, usually used for humorous effect but sometimes perceived as condescending to women. It reinforces the stereotype of a weak female.
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.
The Americans definitely seems to be depicting men as the weaker sex, which is refreshing—and in my opinion—an accurate depiction of the world of espionage.
From Slate ● Mar. 21, 2013
In the animal world too, across a range of species, males tend to be the "weaker sex" in terms of immune defences, the Cambridge research team said.
From BBC ● Nov. 23, 2012
Women aren't a weaker sex but, as you said, a separate one.
From Time Magazine Archive
But the world war has proved that all the tasks which men claimed women were unfitted to perform can as well be done by what we have been pleased to term the "weaker sex."
From Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights by Kelly Miller
"Has Genevieve—has my wife——" Then George remembered that his uncle was an older man and that chivalry is not limited to the treatment of the weaker sex.
From The Sturdy Oak A composite Novel of American Politics by fourteen American authors by Elizabeth Garver Jordan
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.
