# sexuality

Pronunciation: US say "sek-shoo-AL-uh-tee" /sɛk.ʃuˈæ.lə.ti/; UK/AUS say "sek-shoo-AL-i-tee" /sɛk.ʃuːˈæ.lɪ.ti/

## Noun

1. A person's sexual orientation, whether their romantic or sexual attraction is toward men, women, both or neither.
   - Simple: Whether someone is attracted to men, women, both, or no one.
   - _Researchers have long debated how much of a person's sexuality is shaped by genetics._
   - _He never felt the need to put a label on his sexuality._
2. Sexual activity, or a person's concern with and interest in sexual activity.
   - Simple: Sexual activity, or how much interest a person has in it.
   - _The novel explores the protagonist's awakening sexuality during her college years._
   - _Advertisers often use sexuality to sell everything from cars to perfume._
3. The quality or condition of being sexual; the aspects of life characterized or distinguished by sex.
   - Simple: Everything about a person or living thing that is connected with sex.
   - _Sexuality pervades the imagery of the poem, from its opening stanza onward._
   - _Anthropologists study how different cultures understand and regulate human sexuality._
4. A person's sexual identity or gender, such as being male or female.
   - Simple: A person's gender, meaning whether they are male or female.
   - _Nineteenth-century parish registers recorded each child's sexuality, male or female, beside the date of birth._
   - _The biography notes that the novelist concealed her sexuality by publishing under a man's name._
5. Sexual potency; the physical capacity or power to engage in sexual activity.
   - Simple: A person's sexual power and strength, especially the ability to have sex.
   - _Advertisements for the tonic claimed it could restore a man's fading sexuality._
   - _Doctors warned him that the treatment might permanently impair his sexuality._

## Origin

Borrowed from New Latin "sexuālitās".

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