neuter

Noun · Verb · Adjective
US[noo-ter]/ˈnutɚ/2 syllables
Synonyms: alterspaycastratesexless

Open English WordNet

Noun (1)

  1. a gender that refers chiefly (but not exclusively) to inanimate objects (neither masculine nor feminine)Type of gender, grammatical gender

Verb (1)neutered, neutering

  1. remove the ovaries of“Is your cat spayed?”Synonyms: alterspaycastrateMore general sterilize, steriliseMore specific defeminize, defeminise

Adjective (2)

  1. neither male nor female (of grammatical gender)“‘it’ is the third-person singular neuter pronoun”Opposite masculine, feminine
  2. having no or imperfectly developed or nonfunctional sex organsSynonyms: sexlessOpposite sexualSimilar asexual, nonsexual

Related words spay verb, castration noun

Word of the day · Oct 20About this word
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Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Neu′ter adjective

Origin: L., fr. ne not + uter whether; akin to E. whether. See No, and Whether, and cf. Neither.

1. Neither the one thing nor the other; on neither side; impartial; neutral. archaic

In all our undertakings God will be either our friend or our enemy; for Providence never stands neuter.— Robert South

2. Grammar (a) Having a form belonging more especially to words which are not appellations of males or females; expressing or designating that which is of neither sex; as, a neuter noun; a neuter termination; the neuter gender. (b) Intransitive; as, a neuter verb.

3. Biology Having no generative organs, or imperfectly developed ones; sexless. See Neuter, noun, 3.

Neu′ter noun

1. A person who takes no part in a contest; one who is either indifferent to a cause or forbears to interfere; a neutral.

The world's no neuter; it will wound or save.— Edward Young

2. Grammar (a) A noun of the neuter gender; any one of those words which have the terminations usually found in neuter words. (b) An intransitive verb.

3. Biology An organism, either vegetable or animal, which at its maturity has no generative organs, or but imperfectly developed ones, as a plant without stamens or pistils, as the garden Hydrangea; esp., one of the imperfectly developed females of certain social insects, as of the ant and the common honeybee, which perform the labors of the community, and are called workers.

neu′ter transitive verb

To render incapable of sexual reproduction; to remove or alter the sexual organs so as to make infertile; to alter; to fix; to desex; — in male animals, to castrate; in female animals, to spay.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54 · with additions: GCIDE editors

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