asexualityn.
/(ˌ)eɪsɛkʃʊˈalᵻti/, /(ˌ)eɪsɛksjʊˈalᵻti/, U.S. /ˌeɪˌsɛkʃəˈwælədi/ 1. Biology. The state or condition of being asexual; the fact of propagating without sexual reproduction.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > sex and gender > [noun] > absence of sex characteristics
asexuality1845
sexlessness1873
1845 Trans. Linn. Soc. 19 203 Nothing has been more detrimental than the writings of those ‘mere theoretical botanists’, who have advocated asexuality, as if it were the usual plan of Nature.
1877 Academy 17 Mar. 232 In so highly-organised plants..total asexuality would be an anomaly.
1898 Appletons' Pop. Sci. Monthly July 298 Asexuality passes through bisexuality into unisexuality.
1963 Bryologist 66 112 Asexuality in most bryophytes..is facultative and not obligate.
2008 Nature 10 Apr. 680/3 Nonetheless, the finds raised a caveat about the evidence for asexuality in ostracods—and leaves the bdelloids as perhaps the last thriving asexual animals.
2. Originally: the state or quality of having characteristics of both sexes. Later chiefly: the state or quality of being neither clearly masculine nor clearly feminine in appearance, style, etc.; androgyny.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > sex and gender > [noun] > state or condition of having characteristics of both sexes
hermaphroditism1808
androgynism1823
hermaphrodism1828
androgynity1842
bisexuality1842
androgyny1852
bisexualism1865
pseudohermaphroditism1881
asexuality1886
virilism1896
bi-gender1912
intersexuality1916
sex intergrade1916
relative sexuality1926
ambisexuality1938
monoecy1949
testicular feminization (or feminizing)1953
1886 A. H. Strong Systematic Theol. Index 686/2 Scotus Erigena..on the asexuality of the first pair [i.e. Adam and Eve].
1963 El Paso (Texas) Herald Post 12 Aug. b10/3 She has the asexuality of a schoolgirl who puts her body into a swinging game of rounders.
1990 Arts Mag. Apr. 116/2 The figures are vexingly ungendered, their careful asexuality contrasting with their implicit point of reference.
2004 Financial Times 7 Aug. (Weekend section) w8/6 Kennedy..made herself contemporary by adapting some of the asexuality that was creeping into clothes, using boat necks which widened her shoulders, for example.
3.
a. Originally Psychology and Psychoanalysis. The state or quality of having no sexual feelings or desires, or of being sexually attracted to no one; cf. asexual adj. 2a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual orientation > asexuality > [noun]
asexuality1899
1899 F. J. Rebman tr. R. von Krafft-Ebing Psychopathia Sexualis iii. 336 In hermaphrodismus verus.., a mutual influence of both centres obtains, and thus also a neutralisation of vita amoris, assuming even a state of asexuality [Ger. Asexualität].
1912 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. 23 137 Psychoanalysis takes the view that our belief in the child's asexuality belongs to the realm of myths... Sex is not something that comes into play only at puberty.
1969 Jrnl. Sex Res. 5 140 Transsexuals..often show mental peculiarities aside from their sex and gender role disharmony... Asexuality is by no means rare.
1994 Sunday Times 6 Mar. x. 36/1 He has..tended to flaunt his asexuality, leading critics to assume that this is nothing but a pose.
2017 @lxreee 7 June in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) My asexuality is a legitimate, wholesome sexual orientation and a part of my identity, just as a gay person's homosexuality would be for them.
b. The absence of sexual or erotic qualities, associations, attractiveness, etc.; the quality or condition of being non-sexual. Also: (a state or period of) abstinence from sexual intercourse or other sexual activity; celibacy.
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1913 Eng. Rev. Dec. 155 Here..they [sc. readers of the book being reviewed] will get pleasure and fun and happiness, and that peculiarly English atmosphere of asexuality.
1931 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 21 Jan. (Mag.) 1 m/4 Piety and asexuality may not be synonymous, but they are often treated as if they are.
1965 Financial Times 2 Nov. 22/4 He has staged a sexual encounter..with such astringent asexuality that becomes more parlour game than boudoir romp.
1988 Toronto Star (Nexis) 10 Dec. (Mag.) m8 He loves and resents his common-law wife Angela, with whom he has drifted into a tense asexuality.
2014 N. R. Chatterjee in R. K. Dasgupta & K. M. Gokulsing Masculinity & its Challenges in India 172 There is..a certain astringent quality to the English language that..introduces an element of cold asexuality, even a fear of sexuality.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2018; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1845