sexuallyadv.
/ˈsɛkʃʊəli/, /ˈsɛkʃᵿli/, /ˈsɛkʃl̩i/, /ˈsɛksjʊ(ə)li/, U.S. /ˈsɛkʃ(əw)əli/ 1.
a. By means of sexual intercourse; (Biology) in a manner involving the fusion of gametes.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual activity > [adverb]
fleshlyc1175
carnally1474
cardinallya1616
sexually1655
venereally1945
1655 in S. Hartlib Reformed Common-wealth Bees 21 These Wormes..engender sexually.
1664 J. Chandler tr. J. B. van Helmont Wks. xiii. 1130 A dead carkass generates into worms, and these do again sexually generate.
1862 T. H. Huxley On Knowl. Causes Phenomena Org. Nature 86 Whether we consider the reproduction..of organic beings as they take place asexually or as they may take place sexually.
1886 S. H. Vines in Encycl. Brit. XX. 425/1 The zygospore is..a sexually produced spore, and the two cells which conjugate to form it are spoken of as gametes.
1940 G. S. Carter Gen. Zool. Invertebr. xx. 411 In some species of Nereis there is no alternation of generations; the same individual may first reproduce asexually and then become transformed into the sexual form (heteronereis) and reproduce sexually.
1983 Nature 21 July 211/1 Many sexually reproducing species of lower eukaryotes are not differentiated into males and females.
2006 She Caribbean Nov. 150/3 Genital warts caused by the human papillomavirus, the most common sexually transmitted disease.
b. With regard to sex or sexual activity; in a sexual manner.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > sex and gender > [adverb]
sexually1823
1823 ‘J. Bee’ Slang 187 Upon the town, street-walkers..whether men or women, (the latter particularly) with loose habits—sexually or otherwise.
1878 F. J. Bell & E. R. Lankester tr. C. Gegenbaur Elements Compar. Anat. 131 These are developed into the sexually mature form.
1884 J. G. Kiernan in Detroit Lancet May 483/2 She has felt herself at certain times sexually attracted by some of her female friends.
1899 Cambr. Nat. Hist. VI. 140 The adult, sexually capable, though wingless forms, are called ergatoid.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) II. 968 When they come together sexually, as one flesh, we say that they are pairing or coupling.
1959 W. B. Turrill Vistas in Bot. 404 Both ‘acrocarpous’ and ‘pleurocarpous’ mosses undergo a whole series of further changes of form before the sexually mature shoots are produced.
1968 Brit. Jrnl. Psychiatry 114 720/2 Three patients sexually ignorant and previously chaste had developed acute erectional insufficiency.
1993 Eng. Today July 4/2 Anyone who claims to be out of the closet by definition distinguishes himself as sexually different from Straight.
2006 New Yorker 30 Oct. 88/1 A brash, sexually confident young woman singing over big, blocky dance beats that split the difference between pop and R. & B.
2. With respect to biological sex or gender.
ΚΠ
1800 J. Lawrence New Farmer’s Kalendar 43 in Compl. Gardener & Farmer Hops are sexually distinguished, as male and female, the latter of which only produce fruit.
1877 T. H. Huxley Man. Anat. Invertebr. Animals 31 It depends on the nutriment supplied to the female larva of a bee whether it shall become a neuter or a sexually perfect female.
1937 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 228 168 The sexually indifferent phase of embryonic life.
1939 C. S. Coon Races of Europe iv. 85 The East African Elmenteitans represent..a gerontomorphic or sexually differentiated Mediterranean or Galley Hill form.
1973 Primates 14 245 The sexually dimorphic kra existed in multimale groups.
2006 Edmonton (Alberta) Sun (Nexis) 26 May (Entertainment section) w21 Sometimes, people are simply born with the wrong parts and, thanks to surgery, can be sexually reassigned and end up with the parts that work for them.
Compounds
C1.
sexually repressed adj. [compare earlier sexual repression n. at sexual adj. and n. Compounds 2]
ΚΠ
1926 J. Collins Doctor looks at Love & Life ii. iv. 223 It allows sexually repressed individuals and puritanism-steeped people to talk.
2002 J. Goad Shit Magnet vii. 104 The rightie fundamentalists are sexually repressed control freaks.
C2.
sexually transmitted disease n. a disease characteristically transmitted by sexual contact; abbreviated STD.
ΚΠ
1962 Press-Courier (Calif.) 5 Sept. 2/4 A British medical scientist said today a breakdown of moral standards had caused ‘an alarming increase in sexually transmitted diseases’ such as syphilis.
1992 D. Lessing Afr. Laughter 338 Njekeya claims that he first detected Aids symptoms in people during 1985 and was troubled because unlike other forms of sexually transmitted diseases, it wouldn't go away.
2004 Time Out 25 Aug. 10/1 A recent report by the Health Protection Agency shows that sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) have increased by 57 per cent since 1995.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adv.1655