homosexual

Pluralhomosexuals

1. 1
   adjectiveformal

   Sexually or romantically attracted to people of one's own sex; also, of an act, relationship, or subject, involving or relating to same-sex attraction or relations.

   The survey asked respondents whether they considered themselves homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual.

   The committee agreed that it made no difference whether the candidate was homosexual.

   UsageFor people, gay is the everyday word; homosexual suits scientific, legal and historical writing and can sound distant.

   Oppositeheterosexual, straight

   Note

   A medical-sounding coinage that still sounds like one: Karl Maria Kertbeny made the German word in 1868 from homo- "same" and sexual, and Richard von Krafft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis spread it. It usually implies attraction to the same sex alone, and biologists also apply it to animals. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Karl Maria Kertbeny coined the German word in 1868 from homo- meaning 'same' and sexual. en.wiktionary.org
   • Richard von Krafft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis popularized the terminology. en.wikipedia.org
   • Biologists apply the word homosexual to animals. faculty.ucr.edu
2. 2
   gay personnouncountable

   Someone whose sexual attraction is exclusively or predominantly to people of their own sex.

   For decades, homosexuals could not serve openly in the armed forces.

   The novel's hero is a homosexual living quietly in 1950s Chicago.

   UsageAs a noun for a person it can sound cold; gay man or gay person is usual now.

   Oppositeheterosexual

   Note

   It survives mainly in histories, older laws and writing about the past, often in the plural, as when John Rechy's City of Night (1963) describes "the lonesome young homosexuals" waiting along a park railing. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • John Rechy wrote City of Night, first published in 1963. groveatlantic.com
   • The novel's narration uses the exact phrase 'the lonesome young homosexuals' for people waiting along a park railing. en.wiktionary.org
3. 3
   for gay peopleadjectivedated

   Of a place such as a bar or nightclub, intended for or used by homosexual people.

   Police raids on homosexual bars were common in the city during the 1950s.

   A petition drive to close all homosexual establishments in response to an assumed general AIDS contagion was begun in late October, according to The Weekly News of Miami.

   1983, “Effort To Close Gay Businesses Underway”, in Gay Community News

   UsageToday these places are gay bars and gay clubs.

   Similargay

   Note

   Older reporting put it before the name of a place or business: homosexual bars, homosexual establishments. It belongs to those decades, and even then the change was under way: a 1983 Gay Community News report on a drive to close homosexual establishments ran under a headline calling them gay businesses. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Older reporting used the expression homosexual bars. outhistory.org
   • A 1983 Gay Community News report described a petition drive to close homosexual establishments, under the headline Effort To Close Gay Businesses Underway. en.wiktionary.org

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