unisexualityn.
/ˌjuːnɪˌsɛkʃʊˈalᵻti/, /ˌjuːnɪˌsɛksjʊˈalᵻti/, U.S. /ˌjunəˌsɛkʃəˈwælədi/ 1. Biology. The state or condition of being of either one sex or the other; the separation of the sexes into distinct individuals or structures.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > [noun] > parts of > stamen or pistil > condition of having either stamens or pistils
unisexuality1830
unisex1877
the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > types of reproduction > [noun] > sexual > sexual organs > unisexuality
unisexuality1830
1830 J. Lindley Introd. Nat. Syst. Bot. 155 The unisexuality of the flowers of both genera.
1839 T. Baskerville Affinities of Plants 103 It is not unworthy of notice that unisexuality, which is an universal attribute of the higher animals, is detrimental to rank in vegetables.
1877 T. H. Huxley Man. Anat. Invertebrated Animals i. 67 There is some reason to suspect..that unisexuality is the result of the abortion of the organs of the other sex, in males and females respectively.
1912 F. H. Buzzacott & M. I. Wymore Bi-sexual Man (Sci. ed.) ii. 37 Unisexuality compels a creature to put itself under the power of another in order to exercise one of the most fundamental functions of all life.
1952 P. Mann Systematics Flowering Plants iii. 268 Most plants have some sort of mechanism for the prevention of self-pollination, the simplest being uni-sexuality.
2001 A. K. Sakai & D. F. Westneat in C. W. Fox et al. Evolutionary Ecol. xv. 194/2 In most animal systems, unisexuality of individuals is taken as a given.
2. Biology. The state or condition of possessing or being of only one sex (usually female).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > sex and gender > [noun] > state or condition of having characteristics of one sex only
unisexuality1857
monosexuality1910
1857 Proc. Royal Soc. 8 354 The author has never met with an exception to the rule noticed by preceding writers, that unisexuality is characteristic of an agamic brood.
1864 Edinb. New Philos. Jrnl. 19 223 The specimen of Cucumis Figarei,..peculiar by the nearly total absence of male flowers.., owed both its great size and almost female unisexuality to hybridisation.
1973 New Scientist 31 May 540/1 Poeciliopsis, a tropical fish living off western Mexico, thrives with no males at all! Jack Schultz of the University of Connecticut..now believes that unisexuality may represent a staging post in the evolution of a new species.
1998 Environm. Biol. Fishes 52 251 With respect to the mechanism of unisexuality (male) of artificial triploids of the rosy bitterling, only males (ZZZ and ZZW) are presumed viable, while females (ZWW) are probably inviable.
2008 J. C. Avise Clonality ii. 33 Clonality is often associated with unisexuality—the presence of only females within a species.
3. Sexual indeterminacy or neutrality; androgyny. Cf. unisex adj. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > sex and gender > [noun] > androgyny
androgyny1947
unisex1966
unisexuality1968
1968 Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin) 23 Dec. 1/3 The pot-smoking slovenly hippie with straggly hair, pseudo-jive behavior, ‘unisexuality’, and anarchistic politics.
1973 Daily Tel. 25 Sept. 18 The notion of a blatant unisexuality such as she implies is not the aim of these anti-discrimination laws—or of the majority of feminists.
1996 Guardian 12 Oct. (Weekend Suppl.) 28/4 We live at a time when we have a feeling of interchangeability and unisexuality, when even fashion advertising uses boyish-looking girls and girlish-looking boys.
2008 Hindustan Times (Nexis) 20 Aug. I have long nails because it is the era of unisexuality.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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