"unsex" meaning in English

See unsex in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /ʌnˈsɛks/ Forms: unsexes [present, singular, third-person], unsexing [participle, present], unsexed [participle, past], unsexed [past]
Etymology: From un- + sex. Etymology templates: {{prefix|en|un|sex}} un- + sex Head templates: {{en-verb}} unsex (third-person singular simple present unsexes, present participle unsexing, simple past and past participle unsexed)
  1. (transitive) To deprive of sexual attributes or characteristics. Tags: transitive
    Sense id: en-unsex-en-verb-~qVqWUQu Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 58 42 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 74 26 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 81 19
  2. (transitive) To sterilize (deprive of the ability to procreate); to castrate. Tags: transitive
    Sense id: en-unsex-en-verb-kc2Rg6IL Categories (other): English terms prefixed with un- Disambiguation of English terms prefixed with un-: 33 67

Inflected forms

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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "un",
        "3": "sex"
      },
      "expansion": "un- + sex",
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  "etymology_text": "From un- + sex.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "unsexes",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "unsexing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
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    },
    {
      "form": "unsexed",
      "tags": [
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        "past"
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    },
    {
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      "tags": [
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  "head_templates": [
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "58 42",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
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        {
          "_dis": "74 26",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "81 19",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:",
          "text": "Lady Macbeth: Come, you spirits\nThat tend on mortal thoughts! unsex me here,\nAnd fill me from the crown to the toe full\nOf direst cruelty:",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1859, George Meredith, chapter 1, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC:",
          "text": "The Amazon cut off a breat to battle: How will not Woman disfigure and unsex herself to gain her end?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "c. 1920–1925 [458 BCE], Geoffrey Montague Cookson, transl., Agamemnon, translation of original by Aeschylus:",
          "text": "The Sea-king, Ravisher of Ilium\nKnows not her false and slavering tongue, thrust out,\nLewd bitch, to lick and fawn and smile and be\nThe secret soul of unforgiving hell!\nDare it, She-devil! Unsex thyself, and be His murderess!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1935 April, William Faulkner, “Skirmish at Sartoris”, in The Unvanquished, New York, N.Y.: Random House, published 1938, →OCLC; republished in The Unvanquished: The Corrected Text, New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, October 1991, →ISBN, section 1, page 189:",
          "text": "[…]she had expected the worst ever since Drusilla had deliberately tried to unsex herself by refusing to feel any natural grief at the death in battle not only of her affianced husband but of her own father […]",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To deprive of sexual attributes or characteristics."
      ],
      "id": "en-unsex-en-verb-~qVqWUQu",
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To deprive of sexual attributes or characteristics."
      ],
      "tags": [
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        "To sterilize (deprive of the ability to procreate); to castrate."
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      "id": "en-unsex-en-verb-kc2Rg6IL",
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          "sterilize",
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        ],
        [
          "castrate",
          "castrate"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To sterilize (deprive of the ability to procreate); to castrate."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ʌnˈsɛks/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "unsex"
}
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  "forms": [
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      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "unsexing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
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    },
    {
      "form": "unsexed",
      "tags": [
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    },
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      "form": "unsexed",
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      "args": {},
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
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          "ref": "c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:",
          "text": "Lady Macbeth: Come, you spirits\nThat tend on mortal thoughts! unsex me here,\nAnd fill me from the crown to the toe full\nOf direst cruelty:",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1859, George Meredith, chapter 1, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC:",
          "text": "The Amazon cut off a breat to battle: How will not Woman disfigure and unsex herself to gain her end?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "c. 1920–1925 [458 BCE], Geoffrey Montague Cookson, transl., Agamemnon, translation of original by Aeschylus:",
          "text": "The Sea-king, Ravisher of Ilium\nKnows not her false and slavering tongue, thrust out,\nLewd bitch, to lick and fawn and smile and be\nThe secret soul of unforgiving hell!\nDare it, She-devil! Unsex thyself, and be His murderess!",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1935 April, William Faulkner, “Skirmish at Sartoris”, in The Unvanquished, New York, N.Y.: Random House, published 1938, →OCLC; republished in The Unvanquished: The Corrected Text, New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, October 1991, →ISBN, section 1, page 189:",
          "text": "[…]she had expected the worst ever since Drusilla had deliberately tried to unsex herself by refusing to feel any natural grief at the death in battle not only of her affianced husband but of her own father […]",
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        "To deprive of sexual attributes or characteristics."
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        "(transitive) To deprive of sexual attributes or characteristics."
      ],
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        "transitive"
      ]
    },
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        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To sterilize (deprive of the ability to procreate); to castrate."
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        "(transitive) To sterilize (deprive of the ability to procreate); to castrate."
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  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ʌnˈsɛks/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "unsex"
}

Download raw JSONL data for unsex meaning in English (3.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (b941637 and 4230888). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.