What does "bisexual" mean?
A person who is bisexual.
Bisexual
/baɪˈsɛk.ʃʊ.əl/ adj, noun
adj, noun ·Moderate ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A person who is bisexual.
- Grammar: bisexual is listed as adj, noun.
- Nearest alternatives: bisexual person, ac-dc, ac/dc, ambisextrous.
- Useful contrasts: diclinous, heterosexual, homosexual.
- Usage evidence: Tom is either gay or bisexual, I think.
How to use "bisexual"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "bisexual" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "bisexual" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "bisexual" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "bisexual" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "bisexual" is acting as adj, noun in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "bisexual person" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "bisexual", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A person who is bisexual.
"Several chapters are devoted to the investigations of the origins and influences prevalent in the life of a bisexual with the latter portion of the book devoted to three extensive in-depth interviews with three bisexuals."
- 2 a person who is sexually attracted to both sexes wordnet
- 3 A plant or fungus, or part thereof, which is bisexual. rare
- 4 An organism (that is, a species) which has male and female sexes.
"The direct way to solve this dilemma is to study the inheritance of some specific features of genomic DNA of bisexual species by the genome of unisexual species . It seems possible to study this if the recent bisexuals resemble their ancestral […]"
Adjective
- 1 Sexually attracted to both opposite-gendered and same-gendered individuals. (Compare pansexual.)
"Skirt Club caters to bisexual or bicurious women. No men are allowed, but women with all levels of experience in same-sex sexuality, from bicurious to fully lesbian, are welcomed."
- 2 Having both male and female parts, characteristics, or functions.; Of flowers: having both pollen and seeds.
- 3 Having both male and female parts, characteristics, or functions.; Of sporophytes: having both male and female organs.
- 4 Having both male and female parts, characteristics, or functions.; Of gametophytes: producing both eggs and sperm.
- 5 Having both male and female parts, characteristics, or functions.; Of fungi: producing both the "female" ascogonium and the "male" antheridium.
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 Having both male and female parts, characteristics, or functions.; Hermaphroditic/intersex, being both male and female, or alternating between being male and being female. rare
"Midrash and Zohar present Adam as hermaphroditic or bisexual."
- 7 Having both male and female parts, characteristics, or functions.; Androgynous.
"The bisexual name, such as Marion and Carol (and Evelyn and Vivian in England), is frequently a source of annoyance and embarrassment to the letter writer, who, if he does not know his ambiguously named correspondent personally […]"
- 8 Having two distinct sexes, male and female (as contrasted with unisexual or hermaphroditic).
"It is probable, therefore, that hermaphroditism must be regarded as a variation from an earlier condition in which the sexes were separate, and that the hermaphrodites which occasionally appear in normally bisexual species are produced by variations occurring sporadically in the same direction."
- 9 Involving two sexes (particularly with regard to reproduction; contrast parthenogenetic or asexual).
"[…] where the parthenogenetic and bisexual generations do not differ in any character except their manner of reproduction[…]"
Adjective
- 1 sexually attracted to both sexes wordnet
- 2 having an ambiguous sexual identity wordnet
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"Tom is either gay or bisexual, I think."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "bisexual"?
Common synonyms include: bisexual person, ac-dc, ac/dc, ambisextrous, amphierotic, androgyne.
How do you use "bisexual" in a sentence?
Tom is either gay or bisexual, I think.
How do you pronounce "bisexual"?
Pronounced /baɪˈsɛk.ʃʊ.əl/.
Etymology
From bi- + -sexual, via the French bisexuel (bi-, sexuel). Attested since 1792 as a synonym in botany for "hermaphroditic" ("having male and female parts"). First used of sexuality in Richard von Krafft-Ebing's 1886 Psychopathia Sexualis (in German) and Charles Gilbert Chaddock's 1892 English translation thereof, due to the theory that people were naturally attracted to the opposite sex and so the brain or mind of a person attracted to "both" sexes (or to the same sex) must be partly of another sex and thus "hermaphroditic".