gender

noun gen·der \ ˈjen-dər \

|Updated on: 10 Aug 2018

Definition of gender

1 a : a subclass within a grammatical class (such as noun, pronoun, adjective, or verb) of a language that is partly arbitrary but also partly based on distinguishable characteristics (such as shape, social rank, manner of existence, or sex) and that determines agreement with and selection of other words or grammatical forms

b : membership of a word or a grammatical form in such a subclass

c : an inflectional form (see inflection 3a) showing membership in such a subclass

2 a : sex

the feminine gender

b : the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex

See gender defined for English-language learners

See gender defined for kids

Examples of gender in a Sentence

Please state your name, birth date, and gender.
The adjective and noun must agree in number and gender.
Some languages do not use genders.

Recent Examples of gender from the Web

The temptation to suggest that people’s views are a product of their skin colour, gender or sexuality is bad enough.

— The Economist, "What’s left?To win back power, Democrats must do things that make them uncomfortable," 14 July 2018
Through the intertwined lives of the extended Zhen family and staff, Tan deftly explores evolving immigrant identity, layers of ex-pat privilege, tenacious gender disparity, family expectations and obligations.

— terry hong, The Christian Science Monitor, "'What We Were Promised' depicts post-Mao China in a deft debut novel set in Shanghai," 13 July 2018
Their debut album, Daddy, which arrived on June 15, confronts heteronormativity and conventions of gender expression alongside abrasive musicality.

— henry youtt, Billboard, "GRLwood Host Basement Rager in 'Bisexual' Video: Premiere," 13 July 2018
Researchers record the weight and gender of the animals and take fecal samples to determine their diet.

— justin wm. moyer, Washington Post, "A mysterious disease is killing millions of bats. These scientists are trying to save them.," 12 July 2018
There is also the gender component: the mice studied were all male whereas females made up a majority of participants in the human study.

— maya miller, Scientific American, "Why It’s So Hard to Junk Bad Decisions—Edging Closer to Understanding “Sunk Cost”," 12 July 2018
The figures show that the gender breakdown among senior olim resembles that of the rest of the country's senior citizen population, with 60 percent of new immigrants over the age of 65 being women compared to 40 percent men.

— nadav shaham, Jewish Journal, "Report: Greater numbers of senior citizens are making aliyah," 12 July 2018
More personal user data — including users’ dates of birth and genders — was compromised, according to a report from TechCrunch.

— chaim gartenberg, The Verge, "Timehop’s data breach included more personal user information than originally announced," 11 July 2018
And oftentimes racial, class, and gender biases get in the way of empathetic identification.

— brian resnick, Vox, "A sociologist explains why we make spectacle out of trauma like the Thai cave boys," 11 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'gender.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.