ambisexualadj.n.
/ˌambᵻˈsɛkʃʊəl/, /ˌambᵻˈsɛkʃ(ᵿ)l/, /ˌambᵻˈsɛksjʊ(ə)l/, U.S. /ˌæmbəˈsɛkʃ(əw)əl/ A. adj.† 1. Apparently: of or relating to sexual activity between men and women. Obsolete. rare.
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1853 C. B. Cayley tr. Dante Divine Comedy: Purgatory xxvi. 192 For us, our sin was ambisexual [It. ermafrodito; translator's note The..company..was punished..for ordinary lewdness].
2. Chiefly Biology. Both male and female; having or combining characteristics of both sexes; hermaphroditic. Also: having the potential to develop either male or female characteristics; not yet differentiated as to sex.
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1864 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 10 Dec. 663/2 The Zoological Section..passed a vote of thanks to Professor Leuckart, for his excellent and interesting paper on Ambisexual Bees.
1938 Biol. Bull. 75 283 The activation of the male constituents of the primary ambisexual gonad always precedes the development of such secondary..behaviouristic sexual characteristics.
1951 New Statesman 14 July 42/1 Zeus and Hera argue as to whose is the happier lot—man's or woman's. Ambisexual Tiresias alone is in a position to arbitrate.
1986 Amer. Naturalist 128 417 In the first season, 29 trees were ambisexual (bearing both staminate and pistillate flowers) and 17 were male (staminate flowers only).
2004 Toronto Star 10 Nov. d1/3 Oysters are ‘ambi-sexual’, beginning their life as male and changing to female by whim and reproductive demands.
3. Suitable for, applicable to, or used by either sex; (of clothing, style, etc.) unisex. Also more generally: of, relating to, or affecting both men and women.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > [adjective] > for specific people > for men and women
ambisexual1871
1871 Pall Mall Gaz. 19 May 11/2 That term [sc. shrew] was originally ambisexual.
1874 Academy 28 Mar. 351/3 A considerable number of [women's] works which might be overlooked in a larger and ambisexual gathering.
1914 Interstate Med. Jrnl. 21 625 Dr. Cockayne brought examples of familial nystagmus; in one series associated with head movements, and of ambisexual distribution; in another with limited male inheritance only.
1967 Financial Times 31 Jan. 22/2 The treatment rooms are strangely ambisexual so that..I never once managed to weigh myself on the men's department scales without being surprised by a passing female.
1988 L. G. Roman in L. G. Roman & L. K. C. Smith Becoming Feminine vi. 176 Working class women..refuse to sport mohawks, new spangled, spiked jewelry, and purportedly ambisexual or unisex clothing.
2005 N.Y. Mag. 4 Apr. 10/1 Written by people with ambisexual (Curtis is female) ‘family’ names.
4. Having an ambivalent or changing sexual orientation; characterized by such sexual orientation; spec. bisexual.In studies of human sexual behaviour (e.g. the work cited in quot. 1979) sometimes used to designate people who seek out and engage in sexual activity with partners of both sexes with equal enthusiasm, but who have no interest in developing ongoing relationships with partners of either sex.
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the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual orientation > bisexuality > [adjective]
bisexual1906
ambisexual1912
ambisextrous1919
omnifutuant1929
bi1957
versatile1959
AC/DC1960
1912 Boston Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 25 Jan. 119/2 Each child starts life as an ambisexual organism, and often finds strange and unexpected opportunities, in his relationship to his parents, to emphasize, now one, now the other, of his sex-tendencies.
1955 Pediatrics 16 296/2 Contrary to popular belief sexual perversions and bisexual or ambisexual behavior rarely have been problems in hermaphrodites.
1979 W. H. Masters & V. E. Johnson Homosexuality in Perspective viii. 166 Ambisexual men and women not only were confident in their approach to any sexual opportunity, they obviously thoroughly enjoyed any sexual opportunity that was presented.
2007 N.Y. Mag. (Nexis) 29 Oct. The ambisexual, incestuous emperor in a purple toga and leafy little headdress.
B. n.
1. A person of ambivalent or changing sexual orientation; spec. a bisexual person.See note at sense A. 4.
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1937 W. S. Sadler et al. Psychiatric Nursing ii. xiv. 167 Those with acquired homoeroticism (more likely ambisexuals) can certainly be rehabilitated.
1959 J. D. Mercer They walk in Shadow 7 The author of this book is a self-confessed and self-accepting ambisexual.
1979 W. H. Masters & V. E. Johnson Homosexuality in Perspective viii. 172 From the ambisexual's point of view, heterosexuality and homosexuality are neither right nor wrong.., better or worse... The true ambisexual really has no frame of reference for evaluating either orientation.
2016 Climbing July 24/1 Queer..includes bisexuals, lesbians, ambisexuals, gays, trans'es, questioners, not quite straight people.., or however you define yourself.
2. Biology. A person or (esp. in later use) an animal or plant having both male and female sexual organs or other physical characteristics; a hermaphrodite; an intersexual individual.
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1959 J. Lapides in Univ. Mich. Med. Bull. 25 90 Even more enigmatic has been the physiopathology of the ambisexual, the individual with traits of both sexes.
1974 Sexology Aug. 31 Hermaphrodites or ambisexuals..have long been the subjects of myths, legends, and superstitions.
1988 M. A. Schlessman in J. L. Doust & L. L. Doust Plant Reprod. Ecol. (1990) vii. 144 If all ambisexuals are regarded as inconstant males, the estimated percentage of plants exhibiting gender choice rises to six.
2013 Fish Physiol. & Biochem. 39 999/2 The ambisexuals had significantly lower GSI [sc. gonadosomatic index] than males or females.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2018; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.n.1853