sexualizedadj.
/ˈsɛkʃʊəlʌɪzd/, /ˈsɛkʃᵿlʌɪzd/, /ˈsɛkʃl̩ʌɪzd/, /ˈsɛksjʊ(ə)lʌɪzd/, U.S. /ˈsɛkʃ(əw)əˌlaɪzd/ 1. Characteristic of or having a specific gender; (Biology, of an organism) capable of reproducing sexually, rather than vegetatively or asexually. Cf. sexual adj. 2b.
ΚΠ
1856 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 18 93 Male and female cells..which..must be more correctly conceived as independent, sexualized, elementary organisms.
1888 Amer. Naturalist 22 872 They are..ova, which differ from sexualized ova only in their ability to develop through autotemnic fission.
1900 B. M. Lelong Culture of Citrus in Calif. 40 The orchardist should be enlisted to plant more sexualized varieties [of orange] to guard his future interests.
1927 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 54 622 When sexual reproduction begins, two cells become sexualized as + and − and conjugate directly.
1970 Sci. Jrnl. June 72/2 In the rat the testicular hormone has a permanent organizing effect on some hypothalamic structure which in that sense can be considered sexualized.
2007 Internat. Jrnl. Devel. Biol. 51 345 Fissiparous worms, which do not possess sexual organs, can be converted to fully sexualized worms.
2. Endowed with eroticism or sexual character; made sexual.
ΚΠ
1914 M. Monahan At Sign of Van 214 We get little but sexualized entertainment that makes its covert or frank appeal to the baser instincts.
1939 H. V. Dicks Clin. Stud. Psychopathol. v. 79 The analysis was devoted to working out the Oedipal, strongly sexualized, love for him.
1985 C. A. Mackinnon Pornography, Civil Rights & Speech in C. Itzin Pornography (1993) xxiii. 496 ‘Splatter’ films of sexualized violence against women.
2007 West Briton (Nexis) 24 May 3 The father had already had five children..removed from his care..due to concerns about sexualised behaviour.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1856