weaker sex

nounOlder Use: Sometimes Offensive.

the female sex; women (usually used facetiously): my life as a member of the weaker sex.

usage note For weaker sex

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.

Words Nearby weaker sex

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use weaker sex in a sentence

It is accounted a point of chivalry to stand as the defender of the weaker sex.
As A Chinaman Saw Us | Anonymous
Women are accounted the weaker sex; but there is no comparison to be made between the labor of the weaker and the stronger.
A New Atmosphere | Gail Hamilton
The weaker sex of course do the hardest labor, and receive more blows than kind words for their pains.
The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 1 | Hubert Howe Bancroft
This was once a man's trick, but the progress of the weaker sex has shifted it.
Hints to Pilgrims | Charles Stephen Brooks
It was not because a Bushi was heartless toward the weaker sex, but effeminacy was a thing which he despised most.
A Fantasy of Far Japan | Baron Kencho Suyematsu

British Dictionary definitions for weaker sex

weaker sex

/ (ˈwiːkə) /

noun

the female sex

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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