Gayness

//ˈɡeɪ.nəs// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The state of being gay (colorful or festive); display or dressiness. dated, rare, uncountable, usually

    "And truly, at a short butt, which some men doth use, the peacock feather doth seldom keep up the shaft either right or level, it is so rough and heavy ; so that many men, which have taken them up for gayness, hath laid them down again for profit:"

  2. 2
    a sexual attraction to (or sexual relations with) persons of the same sex wordnet
  3. 3
    The state of being gay (cheerful); gaiety. countable, dated, rare, usually
  4. 4
    The state of being gay (homosexual); homosexuality; demeanor stereotypically representative of it. uncountable, usually

    "You cannot blame their gayness, their queerness, their homosexuality on sudden wealth."

Synonyms

All synonyms
homosexualityhomosexuality;animal spiritsanimationblitheness

Example

More examples

""Your Majesty!" "Oh, the gayness!" "YOUR MAJESTY!" "What?" "Mind your mouth!""

Etymology

From Middle English gaynesse, equivalent to gay + -ness.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.