asexual
/eɪˈsɛkʃʊəl
/adjective
1Without sexual feelings or associations: she wore a grey frock, discreet and asexual...
- His James is celibate and asexual, without the homosexual yearnings suggested in Tóibín's novel, although Lodge does allow him the reflection that, if one had to, rather with a man than a woman.
- Mary's asexual image, I suspect, is partly to do with her assertion that fidelity isn't so terribly important and that Jeffrey isn't the first politician to indulge in a ‘fling’.
- While I agree that this predicament probably sucks for his girlfriend, I also don't see why it would be a blessing for many other women, unless they too, were asexual.
2 Biology (Of reproduction) not involving the fusion of gametes.It can either start asexual reproduction or it can produce gametes through mitosis....
- The organism can also go through asexual reproduction.
- On the other hand, consider organisms that reproduce by agametic, asexual reproduction.
2.1Without sex or sexual organs: asexual parasites...
- The diagnosis is made by the observation of intracellular asexual forms of the parasite on thick and thin blood smears.
- This, combined with a sufficiently high rate of deleterious mutation, can allow sexual genotypes to outcompete asexual genotypes in the face of the twofold cost of sex.
- To experimentally measure this distribution requires either an asexual organism or a sexual line that is genetically homogeneous (homozygotic at each locus).
noun
A person who has no sexual feelings or desires.Ellen, my first choice in the book kept by the class asexual, chose my best friend Josh, he later told me, because he was safe....
- We had a written record, a closely held book, kept by the class asexual, listing everyone's first, second, and third choice in the opposite sex.
Derivatives
asexuality
/ noun ...- Probably, but like any orientation, asexuality has many nuances, some of which also pertain to issues of attraction.
- Go to the link to see a picture of a young man wearing a shirt proclaiming his asexuality.
- I'm aware that asexuality is trendy in some parts, but that just sounds so unnatural to me.
asexually
/ adverb ...- The process of producing plants asexually is called vegetative propagation and is used for such crops as potatoes, bananas, raspberries, pineapples, and some flowering plants used as ornamentals.
- Cnidarians may reproduce asexually to form new individuals or colonies with varying degrees of integration; indeed for many species, asexual propagation is the primary mode of reproduction.
- In the face of fluctuating environments, organisms that reproduce asexually have a reduced capacity to generate variation compared to sexual organisms.