SEX

Pronunciation (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sex mean? 

• SEX (noun)
  The noun SEX has 4 senses:

1. activities associated with sexual intercourse
2. either of the two categories (male or female) into which most organisms are divided
3. all of the feelings resulting from the urge to gratify sexual impulses
4. the properties that distinguish organisms on the basis of their reproductive roles

  Familiarity information: SEX used as a noun is uncommon.

• SEX (verb)
  The verb SEX has 2 senses:

1. stimulate sexually
2. tell the sex (of young chickens)

  Familiarity information: SEX used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SEX (noun)

Meaning:

Activities associated with sexual intercourse

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

sex; sex activity; sexual activity; sexual practice

Context example:

they had sex in the back seat

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"):

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

perversion; sexual perversion (an aberrant sexual practice that is preferred to normal intercourse)

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

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

lechery (unrestrained indulgence in sexual activity)

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

bisexuality (sexual activity with both men and women)

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

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

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

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

outercourse (sexual stimulation without vaginal penetration)

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

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

carnal knowledge; coition; coitus; congress; copulation; intercourse; relation; sex act; sexual congress; sexual intercourse; sexual relation (the act of sexual procreation between a man and a woman; the man's penis is inserted into the woman's vagina and excited until orgasm and ejaculation occur)

pleasure (sexual gratification)

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

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

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

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Context example:

the war between the sexes

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

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

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

sexual urge; sex

Context examples:

he wanted a better sex life / the film contained no sex or violence

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

feeling (the experiencing of affective and emotional states)

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

sexuality; gender; sex

Context example:

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

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

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

Attribute:

asexual; nonsexual (not having or involving sex)

sexual (having or involving sex)

androgynous (having both male and female characteristics)

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

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

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)

• SEX (verb)

Meaning:

Stimulate sexually

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

sex; wind up; excite; turn on; arouse

Context example:

This movie usually arouses the male audience

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

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