Castration
//kæˈstɹeɪ.ʃən// noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The act of removing the testicles. countable, uncountable
"Castration of bulls was a socialization process that turned a bull into an ox; in this transformation something wild became something very useful; nature became culture."
- 2 the deletion of objectionable parts from a literary work wordnet
- 3 Any act that removes power from a person (particularly a man) or entity. countable, figuratively, uncountable
- 4 surgical removal of the testes or ovaries (usually to inhibit hormone secretion in cases of breast cancer in women or prostate cancer in men) wordnet
- 5 neutering a male animal by removing the testicles wordnet
Example
More examples"The aim of jazz is the mechanical reproduction of a regressive moment, a castration symbolism. 'Give up your masculinity, let yourself be castrated,' the eunuchlike sound of the jazz band both mocks and proclaims, 'and you will be rewarded, accepted into a fraternity which shares the mystery of impotence with you, a mystery revealed at the moment of the initiation rite."
Etymology
From castrate + -ion.
Related phrases
More for "castration"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.