What does "gender" mean?
Class; kind.
Gender
/ˈd͡ʒɛndə/ adj, noun, verb
adj, noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Class; kind.
- Grammar: gender is listed as adj, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: grammatical gender, animate, biological sex, classify.
- Useful contrasts: biological sex, degender, gendering.
- Usage evidence: Don't discriminate against people based on nationality, gender, or occupation.
How to use "gender"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "gender" 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 "gender" 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 "gender" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "gender" 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 "gender" is acting as adj, noun, verb 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 "grammatical gender" 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 "gender", 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 Class; kind. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"[…]plant nettles or sow lettuce, set hyssop and weed up thyme, supply it with one gender of herbs or distract it with many[…]"
- 2 An Indonesian musical instrument resembling a xylophone, used in gamelan music.
- 3 the properties that distinguish organisms on the basis of their reproductive roles wordnet
- 4 Sex (a category, either male or female, into which sexually-reproducing organisms are divided on the basis of their reproductive roles in their species). countable, proscribed, sometimes, uncountable
"the gene is activated in both genders"
- 5 a grammatical category in inflected languages governing the agreement between nouns and pronouns and adjectives; in some languages it is quite arbitrary but in Indo-European languages it is usually based on sex or animateness wordnet
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 Identification as a man, a woman, or something else, and association with a (social) role or set of behavioral and cultural traits, clothing, etc; a category to which a person belongs on this basis. (Compare gender role, gender identity.) countable, uncountable
"I am a cross-dresser by pleasure and inclination, a transgenderal person. To me for human beings to express themselves along gender lines is a wonderful and uniquely human phenomena."
- 7 A division of nouns and pronouns (and sometimes of other parts of speech) into masculine or feminine, and sometimes other categories like neuter or common, and animate or inanimate. countable, uncountable
"The pronominal declension [of English], on which we will focus most of our attention, inflects pronouns for person, number, case, gender, animacy, and reflexivity."
- 8 Synonym of voice (“particular way of inflecting or conjugating verbs”). countable, uncountable
"143. […] We have now to speak of the following eight particulars relating to verbs: Gender or Sort, Person, Number, Time, Mode, Participle, Gerund, and Supine. [...] 1st.--Of the Gender. 144. Gender means the same as sort or kind. There are four principal Sorts of Verbs; namely, Active verbs, Passive verbs, Neuter verbs, and Impersonal verbs."
- 9 The quality which distinguishes connectors, which may be male (fitting into another connector) and female (having another connector fit into it), or genderless or androgynous (capable of fitting together with another connector of the same type). countable, uncountable
"Connectors are identified by gender. When copper pins are exposed in the connector, its gender is male."
Verb
- 1 To assign a gender to (a person); to perceive as having a gender; to address using terms (pronouns, nouns, adjectives...) that express a certain gender.
"In an interview, he even noted that he "dressed, acted and thought like a man" for years, but his coworkers continued to gender him as female (Shaver 1995, 2)."
- 2 To engender. archaic
"[…] Abraham had two ſonnes, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman, was borne after the fleſh: but hee of the freewoman, was by promiſe. Which things are an Allegorie; for theſe are the two Couenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. […] But Jeruſalem which is aboue is free, which is the mother of vs all."
- 3 To perceive (a thing) as having characteristics associated with a certain gender, or as having been authored by someone of a certain gender.
"At the same time, however, the convictions they held about how a woman or man might write led them to interpret their findings in a rather androcentric fashion, and to gender the text accordingly."
- 4 To breed. archaic, obsolete
"Yee ſhall keepe my Statutes: Thou ſhalt not let thy cattel gender with a diuerſe kinde: Thou ſhalt not ſowe thy field with mingled ſeed: Neither ſhall a garment mingled of linnen and woollen come vpon thee."
Adjective
- 1 Evoking positive feelings regarding gender, like gender euphoria or gender envy.
"This outfit I'm wearing feels gender as hell. It's incredible that I get to look this hot."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"Don't discriminate against people based on nationality, gender, or occupation."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "gender"?
Common synonyms include: grammatical gender, animate, biological sex, classify, degender, demographic category.
How do you use "gender" in a sentence?
Don't discriminate against people based on nationality, gender, or occupation.
How do you pronounce "gender"?
Pronounced /ˈd͡ʒɛndə/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English gendre, borrowed from Old French gendre, borrowed from Latin genere (“type, kind”). Doublet of genre and genus. The verb developed after the noun.
Etymology 2
From Middle English gendren, genderen, from Middle French gendrer, from Latin generāre.
Etymology 3
Borrowed from Indonesian gender, from Javanese ꦒꦼꦤ꧀ꦢꦺꦂ (gendèr), from Old Javanese gĕnder.