homosexual

comparative more homosexual · superlative most homosexual

1. formaldistancing or datedSexually and/or romantically attracted to members of the same sex, such as a man who is attracted to other men or a woman who is attracted to other women; gay. (Typically used in the sense of sole/exclusive attraction.)

   No, it wouldn't make a difference if the applicant was homosexual.

   2 more examples

   [H]e said he had never noticed anything homosexual in himself.

   1892 [1889], Charles Gilbert Chaddock, transl., Psychopathia Sexualis, Philadelphia: F. A. Davis, translation of Psychopathia Sexualis by R. von Krafft-Ebing, page 97

   "Significant results indicate that Swedes would choose a more masculine partner the more homosexual they are, and that Finns would choose a more attractive partner the more homosexual they are."

   1983, Michael W. Ross, Homosexuality and Social Sex Roles

   Synonyms: gay, lesbian

2. formaldistancing or datedBetween two people of the same sex; gay.

   Most western countries have repealed laws against homosexual activity between consenting adults.

   1 more example

   Shatner: Have you ever had a homosexual experience? Maher: No. Why, are you...? But it's early!

   2022 March 20, Bill Maher, William Shatner, 56:37 from the start, in William Shatner, Club Random With Bill Maher, episode 1, Club Random Podcast, archived from the original on 05 Apr 2022

   Synonyms: same-sex

3. datedIntended for or used by homosexuals, as a nightclub, a bar, etc.

   A petition drive to close all homosexual establishments in response to an assumed general AIDS contagion was begun in late October, according to The Weekly News of Miami.

   1983 December 24, “Effort To Close Gay Businesses Underway”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 23, page 2

plural homosexuals

1. typically formal; distancing or dated; typically formal; distancing or datedA person who is sexually attracted solely or primarily to others of the same sex.

   It was unheard-of for those of us who are 30-something or older to have had an openly gay role model when we were young. Homosexuals weren't depicted in the media in a positive light, if at all.

   1997, The Advocate, number 742, page 9

   2 more examples

   It must not be understood that homosexuality is confined to women. Relationships of this type exist also among men, and in taki-taki are to be found words which are specific designations for male homosexuals, who are termed hantimąn, or awɛge.

   1936, Melville J. Herskovits, Frances S. Herskovits, Suriname folk-lore, New York: Columbia University Press, page 32

   Soon, we got up, walked around the west side — toward the "meat rack" — the gay part of the park. There, it was as if someone had hung a line of marionettes on the railing: the lonesome young homosexuals, legs dangling, looking, waiting for that one-night's sexual connection...

   1963, John Rechy, City of Night, page 48

   Synonyms: This section is divided into two tables, one containing synonyms that generally are not derogatory and one containing those that generally are. However, note that the non-derogatory terms can nonetheless be used derogatorily, and that some of the derogatory ones are often used humorously and non-derogatorily by gay people and others, of either sex* gay, invert, queer, same-sexer