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homosexuality

UK/ˌhəʊmə(ʊ)sɛkʃʊˈælɪti/US/ˌhoʊməˌsɛkʃuˈælɪti/
nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #8,429 of 15,258leans written

Homosexuality is sexual attraction to people of your own sex. Attitudes to homosexuality, the decriminalisation of homosexuality, discuss homosexuality.

The word is clinical in tone and now often avoided in favour of gay or lesbian, partly because it was for a century a diagnosis: it was removed from the American psychiatric manual only in 1973 and from the World Health Organization's list in 1990.

Definitions of homosexuality

  1. 1nounhomosexualitySexual attraction to people of your own sex.B2+

    “Many countries have changed their laws so that homosexuality is no longer a crime.”

homosexuality is an orientation.

Where it comes from

Coined in German in 1869 by Karl Maria Kertbeny, from Greek homos, same, plus sexual.

  1. French

    homosexualité

  2. German

    Homosexualität

  3. English, today

    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.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

homosexuality in the wild

  • In surveys of public opinion, the vast majority of Muslims across various countries reject the notion that homosexuality should be acceptable in society.

    LGBTQ people and Islam

  • The field of psychology has extensively studied homosexuality as a human sexual orientation.

    Homosexuality and psychology

  • As a result of this scientific research, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the DSM-II in 1973.

    Homosexuality and psychology

  • Male homosexuality was generally tolerated in many Ancient and Medieval Eastern cultures such as those influenced by Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism.

    History of male homosexuality

  • Some have contended that definitions of "progress" on homosexuality (e.g.

    History of male homosexuality

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

  • sexuality