# sexual

Pronunciation: say "SEK-shoo-uhl" US /ˈsɛk.ʃu.əl/, UK /ˈsɛk.ʃuː.əl/

## Adjective

1. Relating to sex, sexual activity, or sexual behavior, including its place in society and culture.
   - Simple: Having to do with sex or the ways people behave about sex.
   - _The film was rated for adults because of its explicit sexual content._
   - _Doctors asked about any changes in his sexual behavior over the past year._
2. Marked by sexual feelings or behavior, and possessing the quality of sexuality.
   - Simple: Having sexual feelings, or showing them in the way someone acts.
   - _Her poetry is charged with a frank sexual energy._
   - _He became more openly sexual in his early twenties._
3. Resulting from being male or female; concerned with sex or gender, or with how men and women relate to each other socially.
   - Simple: Coming from being male or female, or about how the sexes relate.
   - _Many women still face sexual discrimination when they apply for jobs._
   - _The historian traced how the sexual division of labor changed as factories replaced family farms._
4. Experiencing sexual attraction toward other people, rather than being asexual.
   - Simple: Feeling sexually attracted to other people, unlike someone who is asexual.
   - _He identifies as sexual, unlike his asexual sibling._
   - _On the questionnaire, most participants identified as sexual, though a small number described themselves as asexual._
5. Capable of sexual reproduction, in which offspring arise from the fusion of two sex cells, usually from two parents.
   - Simple: Able to make young by joining two sex cells, usually from two parents.
   - _Most flowering plants are sexual, producing seeds from pollinated flowers._
   - _Many fungi alternate between sexual and asexual phases in their life cycle._

## Adjective

6. Relating to the female sex, or to that which was regarded as characteristic of women. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Having to do with women or the female sex.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A person who experiences sexual attraction or has an interest in sex, as contrasted with an asexual.
- (noun) A species that reproduces by sexual rather than asexual means, or an individual member of one.

## Origin

From Latin sexualis, from sexus ("sex"); in English it is equivalent to sex plus the suffix -ual.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/sexual (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).