homosexuality

UK/ˌhəʊmə(ʊ)sɛkʃʊˈælɪti//ˌhoʊməˌsɛkʃuˈælɪti/

homosexuality noun: the state of being sexually and romantically attracted primarily or exclusively to persons of the same sex, sometimes (potentially offensive) restricted to same-sex attraction between males.

Image: Benson Kua from Toronto, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

homosexuality (uncountable)

The state of being sexually and romantically attracted primarily or exclusively to persons of the same sex, sometimes (potentially offensive) restricted to same-sex attraction between males.
- Great diminution or complete absence of sexual feeling for the opposite sex, with substitution of sexual feeling and instinct for the same sex. (Homo-sexuality, or contrary sexual instinct).1892, Richard von Krafft-Ebing, translated by Charles Gilbert Chaddock, Psychopathia Sexualis, page 185
- Some of the experts have gone into the question of homosexuality with great care, and advanced sundry learned and scientific theories in regard to that abnormal condition.1892 April 2, “Hereditary Insanity: This is What Dr. Comstock Says Alice Mitchell Has”, in Memphis Appeal-Avalanche, Memphis, Tenn., page 1
Sexual activity with a person of the same sex, sometimes (potentially offensive) restricted to same-sex sex between males.
- Bourneville believes that 75 per cent. of the inmates of the Parisian venereal hospitals have practised homosexuality.1897, Havelock Ellis et al., Sexual Inversion, page 101
- A Prussian proposal for a harsh penal code made male homosexuality an even more serious crime.2004 June 10, Leslie Feinberg, “The love that dared to speak its name”, in Workers World

homosexuality meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

homosexuality in Hindi

sexual orientation: समलैंगिकता samlaiṅgiktā

homosexuality in Tamil

sexual orientation: தன்பாலீர்ப்பு taṉpālīrppu, ஒருபாலீர்ப்பு orupālīrppu

homosexuality in Marathi

समलैंगिकता, समलिंगीता, समलिंगीपणा

homosexuality in Urdu

sexual orientation: ہم جنس پرستی hum jins parasti, ہمجنسیت hamjinsiyat

More languagesFewer languages

homosexuality in Bengali: সমকামিতা śomkamita
homosexuality in Telugu: స్వలింగ సంపర్కం svaliṅga samparkaṁ
homosexuality in Malayalam: സ്വവർഗ്ഗരതി svavaṟggarati
homosexuality in Kannada: ಸಲಿಂಗ ಕಾಮ saliṅga kāma
homosexuality in Punjabi: ਸਮਲਿੰਗੀ samliṅgī
homosexuality in Gujarati: સમલિંગી samliṅgī, હોમોસેક્સ્યુઅલ homoseksyuala
homosexuality in Odia: ସମଲିଙ୍ଗୀତା
homosexuality in Sinhala: සමලිංගිකතාව samaliṁgikatāwa
homosexuality in Assamese: সমকামিতা xomkamita
homosexuality in Nepali: समलैंगिकता samlaiṅgikatā
homosexuality in Tagalog: homoseksuwalidad
homosexuality in Arabic: مِثْلِيَّة miṯliyya, مِثْلِيَّة جِنْسِيَّة miṯliyya jinsiyya, هُومُوسِكْسُوَالِيَّة homoseksuwāliyya
homosexuality in Indonesian: homoseksualitas
homosexuality in Persian: همجنسگرایی ham-jens-garâyi
homosexuality in Thai: รักร่วมเพศ rák-rûuam-pêet
homosexuality in Vietnamese: tính tình dục đồng giới, đồng tính luyến ái
homosexuality in Myanmar: လိင်တူဆက်ဆံခြင်း lingtuhcakhcamhkrang:
Sindhi: هم جنس پرست ham jins parasata

Examples of homosexuality in a sentence

"There is not one so degraded as this Captain Collins, the King of the Sodomites." He was a foreigner, an Englishman, in the long tradition of blaming homosexuality on the influence of aliens.2005, Mark Caldwell, New York Night, page 133:
The state hierarchizes sexuality by defining homosexuality as an influence that corrupts minors.2018 January, Nikita Sleptcov, “Political Homophobia as a State Strategy in Russia”, in Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy...

All 40 example sentences with homosexuality

Synonyms of homosexuality

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of homosexuality

Origin of homosexuality

From homosexual + -ity, equivalent to homo- + sexuality and after the model of German Homosexualität, coined by journalist Karl Maria Kertbeny in 1869, and French homosexualité, attested in 1891.

Words formed from homosexuality

Words that rhyme with homosexuality

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about homosexuality

What does homosexuality mean?: Homosexuality means the state of being sexually and romantically attracted primarily or exclusively to persons of the same sex, sometimes (potentially offensive) restricted to same-sex attraction between males.
What is homosexuality in Hindi?: Homosexuality in Hindi is समलैंगिकता (samlaiṅgiktā). See Homosexuality meaning in Hindi.
How do you use homosexuality in a sentence?: "There is not one so degraded as this Captain Collins, the King of the Sodomites." He was a foreigner, an Englishman, in the long tradition of blaming homosexuality on the influence of aliens.
What part of speech is homosexuality?: Homosexuality is a noun.
How do you pronounce homosexuality?: Homosexuality is pronounced /ˌhoʊməˌsɛkʃuˈælɪti/ (US).

Words near homosexuality in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: homosexuality (page history and authors); homosexuality (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); homosexuality (Odia, 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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-homosexuality.ogg.

Cite this entry: “homosexuality.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/homosexuality. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.