Library / English Dictionary

SEX

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Activities associated with sexual intercourse

Example:

they had sex in the back seat

Synonyms:

sex; sex activity; sexual activity; sexual practice

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("sex" is a kind of...):

activity; bodily function; bodily process; body process (an organic process that takes place in the body)

Attribute:

heterosexual (sexually attracted to members of the opposite sex)

homosexual (sexually attracted to members of your own sex)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sex"):

bestiality; sodomy; zooerastia; zooerasty (sexual activity between a person and an animal)

heterosexualism; heterosexuality; straightness (a sexual attraction to (or sexual relations with) persons of the opposite sex)

bisexuality (sexual activity with both men and women)

gayness; homoeroticism; homosexualism; homosexuality; queerness (a sexual attraction to (or sexual relations with) persons of the same sex)

lechery (unrestrained indulgence in sexual activity)

promiscuity; promiscuousness; sleeping around (indulging in promiscuous (casual and indiscriminate) sexual relations)

autoeroticism; autoerotism (using you own body as a sexual object)

perversion; sexual perversion (an aberrant sexual practice)

arousal; foreplay; stimulation (mutual sexual fondling prior to sexual intercourse)

breeding; facts of life; procreation; reproduction (the sexual activity of conceiving and bearing offspring)

conjugation; coupling; mating; pairing; sexual union; union (the act of pairing a male and female for reproductive purposes)

carnal abuse (any lascivious contact by an adult with the sexual organs of a child (especially not involving sexual intercourse))

love; love life; lovemaking; making love; sexual love (sexual activities (often including sexual intercourse) between two people)

pleasure (sexual gratification)

carnal knowledge; coition; coitus; copulation; intercourse; relation; sex act; sexual congress; sexual intercourse; sexual relation (sexual activity between individuals, especially the insertion of a man's penis into a woman's vagina until orgasm and ejaculation occur)

conception (the act of becoming pregnant; fertilization of an ovum by a spermatozoon)

safe sex (sexual activity (especially sexual intercourse) with the use of measures (such as latex condoms) to avoid the transmission of disease (especially AIDS))

outercourse (sexual stimulation without vaginal penetration)

bondage (sexual practice that involves physically restraining (by cords or handcuffs) one of the partners)

Derivation:

sex (stimulate sexually)

sexual (having or involving sex)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The properties that distinguish organisms on the basis of their reproductive roles

Example:

she didn't want to know the sex of the foetus

Synonyms:

gender; sex; sexuality

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("sex" is a kind of...):

physiological property (a property having to do with the functioning of the body)

Attribute:

male (being the sex (of plant or animal) that produces gametes (spermatozoa) that perform the fertilizing function in generation)

female (being the sex (of plant or animal) that produces fertilizable gametes (ova) from which offspring develop)

androgynous (having both male and female characteristics)

sexual (having or involving sex)

asexual; nonsexual (not having or involving sex)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sex"):

maleness; masculinity (the properties characteristic of the male sex)

androgyny; bisexuality; hermaphroditism (showing characteristics of both sexes)

femaleness; feminineness (the properties characteristic of the female sex)

Derivation:

sex (tell the sex (of young chickens))

Sense 3

Meaning:

All of the feelings resulting from the urge to gratify sexual impulses

Example:

the film contained no sex or violence

Synonyms:

sex; sexual urge

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("sex" is a kind of...):

feeling (the experiencing of affective and emotional states)

Derivation:

sex (stimulate sexually)

sexy (marked by or tending to arouse sexual desire or interest)

sexy (stimulating sexual desire)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Either of the two categories (male or female) into which most organisms are divided

Example:

the war between the sexes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("sex" is a kind of...):

category; class; family (a collection of things sharing a common attribute)

Derivation:

sex (tell the sex (of young chickens))

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Tell the sex (of young chickens)

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "sex" is one way to...):

differentiate; distinguish; secern; secernate; separate; severalise; severalize; tell; tell apart (mark as different)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

sex (the properties that distinguish organisms on the basis of their reproductive roles)

sex (either of the two categories (male or female) into which most organisms are divided)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Stimulate sexually

Example:

This movie usually arouses the male audience

Synonyms:

arouse; excite; sex; turn on; wind up

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "sex" is one way to...):

excite; shake; shake up; stimulate; stir (stir the feelings, emotions, or peace of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sex"):

tempt (try to seduce)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

sex (activities associated with sexual intercourse)

sex (all of the feelings resulting from the urge to gratify sexual impulses)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Captain Harville smiled, as much as to say, Do you claim that for your sex? and she answered the question, smiling also, Yes.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Symptoms include sores in the mouth and on the sex organs and other skin problems, inflammation in parts of the eye, and pain, swelling, and stiffness of the joints.

(Behcet disease, NCI Dictionary)

Avodart blocks enzymes the body needs to make male sex hormones.

(Avodart, NCI Dictionary)

A substance that keeps cells from making or using estrogen (a hormone that plays a role in female sex characteristics, the menstrual cycle, and pregnancy).

(Antiestrogen, NCI Dictionary)

A chromosome not involved in sex determination.

(Autosome, NCI Thesaurus)

They produce hormones that you can't live without, including sex hormones and cortisol.

(Adrenal Gland Disorders, NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)

A rare sex cord-stromal tumor that arises from the testis in adults.

(Adult Type Testicular Granulosa Cell Tumor, NCI Thesaurus)

The development of secondary female sex characteristics in males due to extrinsic factors.

(Acquired Feminization, NCI Thesaurus)

These schools are of several kinds, suited to different qualities, and both sexes.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Are you so severe upon your own sex as to doubt the possibility of all this?

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)