ALL meanings of gender
gen·der
G g - noun gender (in languages such as Latin, Greek, Russian, and German) Each of the classes (typically masculine, feminine, common, neuter) of nouns and pronouns distinguished by the different inflections that they have and require in words syntactically associated with them. Grammatical gender is only very loosely associated with natural distinctions of sex. 1
- noun gender Although it is possible to define gender as “sex,” indicating that the term can be used when differentiating male creatures from female ones biologically, the concept of gender, a word primarily applied to human beings, has additional connotations—more rich and more amorphous—having to do with general behavior, social interactions, and most importantly, one's fundamental sense of self. Until recently, most people assumed that acknowledging one's gender, or sex, was easy. You just checked the appropriate box on a standard form, choosing either “male” or “female,” according to the gender you had been assigned at birth based on visible anatomical evidence. But some people's internal sense of who they are does not correspond with their assigned gender. And in fact, we now recognize that a complex spectrum between male and female exists not only mentally, psychologically, and behaviorally, but also anatomically; there have always been biologicallyintersex people. Gender identity is complicated. Some people, perhaps most, do not question their assigned gender. But others perceive themselves as belonging to the opposite sex. Still others, some of whom identify themselves as genderqueer see themselves as neither male nor female, or perhaps as both, or as rotating between genders, or even as not belonging to any gender categorization at all. Those who clearly see themselves as the opposite sex may or may not want to transition to it in some measure. Of those who do, some may complete that transition, but others may be happy to stop partway on a path that can include dressing and behaving like the opposite sex, although the desire to cross-dress can exist quite apart from issues of gender identity. Somewhere along the transitional path people may want to change their given names and adopt linguistic terms of their own choosing, including a variety of pronouns, as designations of themselves and others. Some will have hormone treatments and opt for various kinds of surgery—perhaps facial, perhaps on their bodies, perhaps ultimately including sex “reassignment” surgery (genital reconstruction). At any point, they may welcome or reject a “transsexual” or “transgender” label. This array of life experiences has resulted in a veritable explosion of new, or newly adapted, vocabulary. Particularly striking and useful is the word cis or prefix cis- as in cis male, cis female, and cisgender, designating those whose sense of self matches their assigned gender. Using cis is a way to refer to these individuals without implying that “cis” people are the norm and all others a deviation from “normal.” It is notable that choices of gender beyond male and female are even appearing on social media sites. Clearly, gender is no longer a simple binary concept, if it ever was. 1
- noun gender either the male or female division of a species, especially as differentiated by social and cultural roles and behavior: the feminine gender. Compare sex (def 1). 1
- noun gender a similar category of human beings that is outside the male/female binary classification and is based on the individual's personal awareness or identity. See also third gender. 1
- noun gender Grammar. (in many languages) a set of classes that together include all nouns, membership in a particular class being shown by the form of the noun itself or by the form or choice of words that modify, replace, or otherwise refer to the noun, as, in English, the choice of he to replace the man, of she to replace the woman, of it to replace the table, of it or she to replace the ship. The number of genders in different languages varies from 2 to more than 20; often the classification correlates in part with sex or animateness. The most familiar sets of genders are of three classes (as masculine, feminine, and neuter in Latin and German) or of two (as common and neuter in Dutch, or masculine and feminine in French and Spanish). one class of such a set. such classes or sets collectively or in general. membership of a word or grammatical form, or an inflectional form showing membership, in such a class. 1
- noun gender Archaic. kind, sort, or class. 1
- noun gender grammar: masculine or feminine 1
- noun gender person: masculine or feminine 1
- noun gender (grammar) A division of nouns and pronouns (and sometimes of other parts of speech) into masculine and feminine, and sometimes other categories like neuter or common. 0
- noun gender (grammar) Any division of nouns and pronouns (and sometimes of other parts of speech), such as masculine / feminine / neuter, or animate / inanimate. 0
- noun gender (grammar) Synonym of voice (“particular way of inflecting or conjugating verbs”). 0
- noun gender (Informal) (sometimes proscribed) Biological sex: a division into which an organism is placed according to its reproductive functions or organs. 0
- noun gender (Informal) (sometimes proscribed) Biological sex: the sum of the biological characteristics by which male and female and other organisms are distinguished. 0
- noun gender Identification as male/masculine, female/feminine, or something else, and association with a (social) role or set of behavioral and cultural traits, clothing, etc typically associated with one sex. (Compare gender role, gender identity.). 0
- noun gender The sociocultural phenomenon of the division of people into various categories such as "male" and "female", with each having associated clothing, roles, stereotypes, etc. 0
- noun gender (Obsolete (No longer in use)) Class; kind. 0
- verb gender (sociology) To assign a gender to (a person); to perceive as having a gender; to address using terms (pronouns, nouns, adjectives...) that express a certain gender. 0
- verb gender (sociology) To perceive (a thing) as having characteristics associated with a certain gender, or as having been authored by someone of a certain gender. 0
- verb gender (archaic) To engender. 0
- verb gender (archaic or obsolete) To breed. 0
- variable noun gender A person's gender is the fact that they are male or female. 0
- countable noun gender You can refer to all male people or all female people as a particular gender. 0
- variable noun gender In grammar, the gender of a noun, pronoun, or adjective is whether it is masculine, feminine, or neuter. A word's gender can affect its form and behaviour. In English, only personal pronouns such as 'she', reflexive pronouns such as 'itself', and possessive determiners such as 'his' have gender. 0
- noun gender a set of two or more grammatical categories into which the nouns of certain languages are divided, sometimes but not necessarily corresponding to the sex of the referent when animate 0
- noun gender any of the categories, such as masculine, feminine, neuter, or common, within such a set 0
- noun gender the state of being male, female, or neuter 0
- noun gender all the members of one sex 0
- noun gender the formal classification by which nouns are grouped and inflected, or changed in form, so as to reflect certain syntactic relationships: pronouns, modifiers, and verbs may also be so inflected: although gender is not a formal feature of English, some nouns and the third person singular pronouns are distinguished according to sex or the lack of sex (Ex.: man or he, masculine gender; woman or she, feminine gender; door or it, neuter gender): in most Indo-European languages, as well as in many others, gender is not necessarily correlated with sex 0
- noun gender any one of such groupings, or an inflectional form showing membership in such a group 0
- noun gender the fact or condition of being a male or a female human being, esp. with regard to how this affects or determines a person's self-image, social status, goals, etc. 0
- verb transitive gender engender 0
- noun gender Gender is the state of being male or female. 0