sex

plural sexes · alternative archaic sexe · alternative s*x

1. countableA category into which sexually-reproducing organisms are divided on the basis of their reproductive roles in their species; the system of such categories, which can differ by organism or by taxonomic branch.

   The effect of the medication is dependent upon age, sex, and other factors.

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   The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

   1918, Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

   I would never have guessed […] that slime molds can have thirteen sexes.

   1994, Valerie Harms, Uc Rodale Nat Aud Enviro, page 268

   The State Department and current Secretary of State Marco Rubio are expressly directed under the injunction to “to process and issue passports [...] consistent with the State Department’s policy as of January 19, 2025,” and to allow passport applicants to self-declare their gender even if that information is “different from the sex assigned to those individuals under the [Trump] Passport Policy.”

   2025 June 18, Samantha Riedel, “In Trans Legal Victory, Federal Judge Blocks Trump Admin From Denying Passport Gender Changes”, in Them

   Synonyms: gender

2. countableAnother category, especially of humans and especially based on sexuality or gender roles.

   A black old neutral personage / Of the third sex stept up.

   1821 August 8, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, Cantos III, IV, and V, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, canto V, stanza XXVI

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   Still there are some loop-holes out of which a man may creep, and dare to think and act for himself; but for a woman it is an herculean task, because she has difficulties peculiar to her sex to overcome, which require almost super-human powers.

   1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1792, →OCLC

   "But now another sex, in arms, is brought, / And, realms to guard, are eunuchs able thought!"

   1817, The works of Claudian, tr. into Engl. verse by A. Hawkins, page 43

   I have encountered officers who believe a woman got a better assignment or somehow "got over" because of her sex.

   1992, United States Naval Institute Proceedings, volume 118, page 23

3. countableThe members of such a category, taken collectively.

   It was a weakness / In me, but incident to all our sex.

   1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes, section 774

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   The sensibility of the female sex appears […] to be greater than that of the male.

   1780, Jeremy Bentham, Introduction to the Principles of Morals & Legislation, vi, §35

4. uncountableThe distinction and relation between these categories, especially in humans; gender.

   A lot of women now like men to pay for them on dates... We've dealt with the outdated view of sex underpinning this.

   2005 November 11, Guardian, section 18

5. literaryobsoleteuncountablewith definite articleWomen; the human female gender and those who belong to it.

   The sex of Venice are undoubtedly of a distinguished beauty.

   1789 November 3, Arthur Young, Travels... undertaken with a view of ascertaining the cultivation... of the kingdom of France, i, 220

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   I was not, however, better than my neighbors; the Sex had its charms for me as it had for others; But there always remained a sting, that time only wore away.

   c. 1840, George Nelson, Reminiscenses

   Even the reptile temperament of Noel Vanstone warmed under the influence of the sex: he had an undeniably appreciative eye for a handsome woman, and Magdalen's grace and beauty were not thrown away on him.

   1862, [William] Wilkie Collins, chapter IV, in No Name. […], volume II, London: Sampson Low, Son, & Co., […], →OCLC, 4th (Aldborough, Suffolk), page 195

6. uncountableSexual activity, may be understood to be sexual intercourse unless preceded by a modifier.First known use 1899

   God, these sex problems. I suffer from the worst one of all: Can't get any.

   1999 February 3, Anthony Horowitz et al., “Strangler's Wood”, in Midsomer Murders

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   We marry in fear and trembling, sex for a home is the woman's traffic, and the man comes to his heart's desire when his heart's desire is dead.

   1899, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “In the Raphael Gallery”, in Love and Mr. Lewisham: The Story of a Very Young Couple, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC, page 144

   If you want to have sex, you've got to trust At the core of your heart, the other creature.

   1929, D.H. Lawrence, Pansies, section 57

   The Believers must (eventually) win through,—Those who humble themselves In their prayers; Who avoid vain talk; Who are active in deeds Of charity; Who abstain from sex, Except with those joined To them in the marriage bond, Or (the captives) whom Their right hands possess,—For (in their case) they are Free from blame...

   1934, Abdullah Yusuf Ali translating Muhammad as The Holy Qur-ān..., Sūra 23: 1–6

   Why wasn't Bond ‘more tender’ in his love-making? Why did he just ‘have sex’ and disappear?

   1962 June 7, The Listener, 1006/2

   It wouldn't work with you... Sex, I mean. You're... easy to be with. You're... you're not dangerous. You're my best friend, John. I couldn't have it on with my best friend, John. It would be embarrassing. Sorry. Honest.

   1990, House of Cards, season 1, episode 3

7. countableeuphemisticslangGenitalia: a penis or vagina/vulva.

   She touched his sex with her hand.

   1993, Catherine Coulter, The Heiress Bride, page 354

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   Another ha's gon through with the bargain... One that will find the way to her Sex, before you'le come to kissing her hand.

   1664, Thomas Killigrew, Princess, ii, ii

   And the black cypresses strained upwards like the sex of a hanged man.

   1938, David Gascoyne, Hölderlin's Madness, section 18

   And he put in a fake sex (penis) because he wanted to make the scene more real, more rude.

   2003 March 2, Daily News, New York, section 2

8. countableobsoleteuncountableAny kind of category, class, or community of people who possess shared characteristics, such as religion or race.

present singular third person sexes · participle present sexing · participle past sexed · past sexed · alternative archaic sexe · alternative s*x

1. transitivebiologyTo determine the sex of (an animal).

   If we sex the cattle, which is the only way to get at their value, we shall have... 400 cows, 200 yearling heifers.

   1878 January 19, Spirit of the Times, 659/2

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   If, in fact, in L. funebris there is no sex marker on the song elements themselves, then a young bird must be able to sex its tutor. The same is true if the individuals were predisposed to produce the total vocabulary of any population, or of both sexes in their own population, and then under experience had to suppress a sex-specific subset of that repertoire [7]. It seems unrealistic to assume the reverse, that a parent bird can sex by some hidden cues newly hatched sexually monomorphic offspring and direct its own vocabulary to consexual young only.

   1996 December 1, W. Wickler, K. Lunau, “How Do East African Bush Shrikes Laniarius funebris Recognize Male and Female Tutors During Gender Dialect Development?”, in Naturwissenschaften, volume 83, →DOI, pages 579b–c

   The ability to sex birds invasively through laparoscopy initially solved that problem, but now it is even easier and less stressful on the birds through testing the DNA of their feathers or blood.

   2007, Clive Roots, Domestication, page 75

   Semen usually is sexed at 90% accuracy, and the sexes of calves at birth almost always are in that statistical range if averaged over […]

   2013, David J Patterson, Michael T. Smith, Beef Heifer Development, An Issue of Veterinary Clinics: Food Animal Practice,, Elsevier Health Sciences, →ISBN

2. UScolloquialtransitiveTo have sex with.

   His body shook uncontrollably as he imagined another man sexing his wife.

   2014, Anya Nicole, Judgment Day, Urban Books, →ISBN

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   As good as Muddah had handled me in bed, sexing her hadn't done a damn thing to take my mind off my cousin Smoove.

   2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 102

   He shows some glimpses, but most of the released singles are about flossing, partying, and sexing women.

   2007, Mickey Hess, Icons of hip hop : an encyclopedia of the movement, music, and culture. 2, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 427

   Sex with Ivory had gotten better than sexing his wife. Herschel laughed with Ivory, cried with Ivory. They dreamt aloud together. Unlike Nikki, Ivory believed in him. Every man needed a woman who believed in him.

   2009, HoneyB, Single Husbands, Grand Central Publishing, →ISBN

   "Do you ever think about how you're betraying your client while you're sexing his wife?"

   2012, Janice Jones, His Woman, His Wife, His Widow, Urban Books, →ISBN

   Wosick-Correa, K. R., 81 Joseph, L. J. Sexy ladies sexing ladies: Women as consumers in strip clubs. Journal of Sex Research, 45, 3 (July 2008), 201-216.

   2014, Jerrold S. Greenberg, Clint E. Bruess, Sara B. Oswalt, Exploring the Dimensions of Human Sexuality, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, →ISBN, page 731

3. UScolloquialintransitiveTo have sex.

   Our baby is eighteen months old now, and cries when we sex

   1921 August 20, Kenneth Burke, letter to Malcolm Cowley

   Synonyms: do it

plural sexes · alternative archaic sexe · alternative s*x

1. alternativeobsoleteAlternative form of sect