Table of Contents
Definition of Homosexuality
(noun) Emotional, physical, romantic, or sexual attraction to members of the same sex based on a binary of female and male.
Homosexuality Pronunciation
Syllabification: ho·mo·sex·u·al·i·ty
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /hoh-muh-sek-shuh-wAl-uh-tee/
- British English – /hoh-muh-sek-shu-A-li-tee/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˌhoʊmoʊˌsɛkʃəˈwælədi/
- British English – /ˈhəʊməʊsɛksjʊˈælɪti/
Usage Notes
- Plural: homosexualities
- Men are referred to as gay and women as lesbian.
- Homosexuality is compared and contrasted to asexuality, bisexuality, heterosexuality, and pansexuality.
- Also called:
- gayness
- homosexualism
- homoeroticism
- queerness
- A (noun) homosexual lives (adverb) homosexually.
Additional Information
- Sex and Gender Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “homosexuality” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
Related Terms
Works Consulted
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Thompson, William E., and Joseph V. Hickey. 2012. Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology. 7th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Thorpe, Christopher, Chris Yuill, Mitchell Hobbs, Sarah Tomley, and Marcus Weeks. 2015. The Sociology Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained. London: Dorling Kindersley.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).
Wiley. (N.d.) Wiley Online Library. (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/).
Cite the Definition of Homosexuality
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2016. “homosexuality.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 20, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/homosexuality/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
homosexuality. (2016). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/homosexuality/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2016. “homosexuality.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/homosexuality/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“homosexuality.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2016. Web. 20 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/homosexuality/>.