Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To deprive of sexual capacity or sexual attributes.
- transitive verb To castrate.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To deprive of sex or of sexual characters; make otherwise than the sex commonly is; transform in respect to sex; usually, with reference to a woman, to deprive of the qualities of a woman; make masculine.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To deprive of sex, or of qualities becoming to one's sex; esp., to make unfeminine in character, manners, duties, or the like.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To deprive of
sexual attributes or characteristics - verb To
sterilize - verb To
castrate
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb remove the qualities typical of one's sex
- verb deprive of sex or sexual powers
- verb make infertile
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word unsex.
Examples
-
Were woman to 'unsex' themselves by claiming equality with men, they would become the most hateful, heathen and disgusting of beings, and would surely perish without male protection.
-
Were woman to 'unsex' themselves by claiming equality with men, they would become the most hateful, heathen and disgusting of beings, and would surely perish without male protection.
Card Craft 2009
-
Were woman to 'unsex' themselves by claiming equality with men, they would become the most hateful, heathen and disgusting of beings, and would surely perish without male protection.
Archive 2009-01-01 2009
-
Were woman to 'unsex' themselves by claiming equality with men, they would become the most hateful, heathen and disgusting of beings, and would surely perish without male protection.
-
Were woman to 'unsex' themselves by claiming equality with men, they would become the most hateful, heathen and disgusting of beings, and would surely perish without male protection.
-
Were woman to 'unsex' themselves by claiming equality with men, they would become the most hateful, heathen and disgusting of beings, and would surely perish without male protection.
The Art of Frederick Morgan: Examples of 19th Century Modest, Feminine Dress 2009
-
Were woman to 'unsex' themselves by claiming equality with men, they would become the most hateful, heathen and disgusting of beings, and would surely perish without male protection.
Thoughts of Home 2009
-
Were woman to 'unsex' themselves by claiming equality with men, they would become the most hateful, heathen and disgusting of beings, and would surely perish without male protection.
New Year Blessings 2009
-
Were woman to 'unsex' themselves by claiming equality with men, they would become the most hateful, heathen and disgusting of beings, and would surely perish without male protection.
Fixing Links 2009
-
Were woman to 'unsex' themselves by claiming equality with men, they would become the most hateful, heathen and disgusting of beings, and would surely perish without male protection.
Gammerstang commented on the word unsex
(verb) - (1) To deprive of sex or sexual character; transformation in respect to sex; usually with reference to a woman, to make masculine.
--William Whitney's Century Dictionary, 1889
(2) To make otherwise than the sex commonly is.
--John Walker's Dictionary and Expositor of the English Language, 1835
(3) Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here.
--William Shakespeare's Macbeth, 1605
January 16, 2018