Meanings
plural heterosexes
- uncountableusuallylifestyleHeterosexual sex.
These [gay] characters will not accept the past solutions of heterosexual society. They will not commit suicide, nor will they seek salvation in heterosex.
1980 April 12, David Roggensack, “The Thing of Shapes to Come”, in Gay Community News, page 151 more example
Homosexual appetites, tastes, and fantasies, one is reminded while listening to Elliot, appear to be every bit as various as heterosexual ones, with the range of homosex—running from an almost Platonic love to sadistic lust—being no less wide than that of heterosex.
1970 September, Joseph Epstein, “Homo/Hetero: The Struggle for Sexual Identity”, in Harper’s Magazine, New York, N.Y., →ISSN, →OCLC
present singular third person heterosexes · participle present heterosexing · participle past heterosexed · past heterosexed
- transitivehuman sciencesTo make heterosexual.
Although each society defines its own norms, most of them assign a higher status to men over women, to heterosexual persons over non-heterosexual ones, and to heterosexed bodies over non-heterosexed ones.
2014, MariaCaterina La Barbera, Identity and Migration in Europe: Multidisciplinary Perspectives1 more example
For example, the heterosexing of public space means that while heterosexual couples can hold hands or kiss goodbye in the street, the same behaviour from same-sex couples is likely to attract attention and sometimes verbal or physical sanctions against them.
2013, Paul Cloke, Philip Crang, Mark Goodwin, Introducing Human Geographies, page 651
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
From hetero- + sex. Attested since the 20th century.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
heterosex. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heterosex
“heterosex.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heterosex. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “heterosex,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heterosex.
Source: heterosex on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.