heterosexual
/ˌhɛtəɹəˈsɛkʃuəl/US/ˌhɛtəɹəˈsɛkʃuəl/
heterosexual adjective: sexually attracted to members of the opposite sex.
Adjective
heterosexual (comparative more heterosexual, superlative most heterosexual)
- Sexually attracted to members of the opposite sex.
- Thai charter court rules that only heterosexual marriages are constitutional: Same-sex marriage in Thailand will have to wait, as the Constitutional Court ruled unanimously today (Wednesday) that Section 1448 of the Civil and Commercial Code, defining marriage as being a union between a man and a...2021 November 17, Thai PBS, “Thai charter court rules that only heterosexual marriages are constitutional”, in Thai PBS World, Bangkok: Thai Public Broadcasting Service, retrieved 17 Nov 2021
- Nevertheless, Bumble, the dating app which once styled itself as a beacon of women’s empowerment because heterosexual women had to make the first move, appears to have missed the memo.2024 May 21, Arwa Mahdawi, “Sex-positive feminism had its moment – and now it has been replaced by voluntary celibacy”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 28 Jun 2024
- Between two people of different sex.
- Early Adolescence. This is the high school period between 14 and 17 years of age. This is a confusing and stressful period for the teenager, because sexual impulses are now quite strong in spite of societal sanctions against heterosexual activity.1983, Raymond J[oseph] Corsini, Anthony J[oseph] Marsella, Personality Theories, Research, & Assessment, Itasca, Ill.: F.E. Peacock Publishers, Inc., →ISBN, page 348
- On the average, the [bisexual] women’s first heterosexual attraction and experience (at 11.6 and 14.7 years) occurred before their first homosexual attraction and experience (at 16.9 and 21.4 years).1994, Martin S[tephen] Weinberg, Colin J[ohn] Williams, Douglas W. Pryor, Dual Attraction: Understanding Bisexuality, New York, N.Y.; Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 43
- Having a sexual desire for the opposite sex seen as unhealthy, including a proclivity for nonreproductive sex.
Noun
heterosexual (plural heterosexuals)
- A heterosexual person, or other heterosexual organism.
- The laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation apply to all people, gay and straight alike. If an antistraight boss starts firing heterosexuals, they're protected.2001, John K. Wilson, How the Left Can Win Arguments and Influence People
heterosexual meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
heterosexual in Hindi
- heterosexual
- विषमलैंगिक viṣamlaiṅgik
heterosexual in Tamil
- எதிர்பாலீர்ப்பு, எதிர்பாலின ஈர்ப்பு, எதிர்பாலிர்ப்புடைய நபர், எதிர்பாலின ஈர்ப்புடைய நபர், வற்றுப்பால்புணர், வேற்றுப் பால் கவர்ச்சி
heterosexual in Marathi
- sexually attracted to members of the opposite sex
- विषमलिंगी viṣamliṅgī
heterosexual in Urdu
- ہیٹروسیکشول, ہیٹرو سیکسوئل, ہیٹروسیکچوئل
More languagesFewer languages
- heterosexual in Bengali
- বিপরীতকামী biporitkami
- heterosexual in Telugu
- భిన్నలింగ సంపర్కులు
- heterosexual in Malayalam
- എതിർലിംഗതാല്പര്യമുള്ള, എതിര്ലിംഗജീവികളോടു കാമാതുരാകർഷണമുള്ള, ഏതിർലിംഗതത്പരതയുള്ള, ഒന്നിൽകൂടുതൽ ലെെംഗികപങ്കാളികളുള്ള
- heterosexual in Kannada
- ಅನ್ಯಲಿಂಗಕಾಮಿ, ಭಿನ್ನಲಿಂಗರತಿಯ, ವಿರುದ್ಧ ಲಿಂಗದವರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಆಕರ್ಷಣೆಯುಳ್ಳ
- heterosexual in Punjabi
- ਵਿਪਰੀਤ ਲਿੰਗਕ, ਵਿਪਰੀਤ ਲਿੰਗੀ
- heterosexual in Gujarati
- હેટેરોસેક્સ્યુઅલ, વિષમલિંગી, વિષમલૈંગિક
- heterosexual in Odia
- ହେଟେରୋସେକ୍ସୁଆଲ୍, ହେଟେରୋସେକ୍ସୁଆଲ
- heterosexual in Nepali
- हेटेरोसेक्सुअल, विषमलैंगिक, विषमलैङ्गिक
- heterosexual in Arabic
- مغاير للجنس
- heterosexual in Malay
- heteroseksual
- heterosexual in Indonesian
- heteroseksual
- heterosexual in Persian
- دگرجنسگرا degarjens-garâ, هتروسکسوئل heteroseksu'el
- heterosexual in Vietnamese
- dị tính luyến ái
Examples of heterosexual in a sentence
- Green and Mitchell (2008) ask their readers to imagine authoring an article entitled “Therapy with Heterosexual Couples.”2015, Arlene Istar Lev, “Resilience in Lesbian and Gay Couples”, in Karen Skerrett, Karen Fergus, editors, Couple Resilience: Emerging...
- Mankeeping describes the emotional labor women end up doing in heterosexual relationships.2025 June 20, Ashley Fike, “Mankeeping Is Why Women Are Done With Dating”, in VICE, archived from the original on 08 Sep 2025:
Synonyms of heterosexual
Antonyms
Forms of heterosexual
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more heterosexual |
| superlative | most heterosexual |
| Noun | |
| plural | heterosexuals |
Origin of heterosexual
From hetero- + -sexual. Earliest citation from 1892, in C.G. Craddock's translation of Krafft-Ebbing's Psychopathia Sexualis.
Words formed from heterosexual
Words that rhyme with heterosexual
- bisexual
- sexual
- ambisexual
- androsexual
- homosexual
- omnisexual
- polysexual
- technosexual
- transsexual
- abrosexual
- aegosexual
- ammosexual
24 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about heterosexual
- What does heterosexual mean?
- Heterosexual means sexually attracted to members of the opposite sex.
- What is heterosexual in Hindi?
- Heterosexual in Hindi is विषमलैंगिक (viṣamlaiṅgik). See Heterosexual meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use heterosexual in a sentence?
- Green and Mitchell (2008) ask their readers to imagine authoring an article entitled “Therapy with Heterosexual Couples.”
- What part of speech is heterosexual?
- Heterosexual can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce heterosexual?
- Heterosexual is pronounced /ˌhɛtəɹəˈsɛkʃuəl/ (US).
Words near heterosexual in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: heterosexual (page history and authors); विषमलैंगिक (Hindi) (page history and authors); heterosexual (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); heterosexual (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); বিপরীতকামী (Bengali) (page history and authors); heterosexual (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heterosexual (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); heterosexual (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); heterosexual (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heterosexual (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heterosexual (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); heterosexual (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-heterosexual.wav.
Cite this entry: “heterosexual.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/heterosexual. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.