heteronormative

adjective

het·​ero·​nor·​ma·​tive ˌhē-tə-rō-ˈnȯr-mə-tiv 

: of, relating to, or based on the attitude that heterosexuality is the only normal and natural expression of sexuality

heteronormativity

ˌhē-tə-rō-ˌnȯr-mə-ˈti-və-tē 

noun

Examples of heteronormative in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Though their love affair clearly exists outside traditional heteronormative boundaries, the narrative leaves open the possibility that one or both of the men could be bisexual. —The New Yorker, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 2025

Her work includes offering critical indigenous insight into the yoga stories and histories that have been obscured by Brahminism, heteronormative patriarchy, and colonization. —Tamika Caston-Miller, Outside Online, 26 Feb. 2025

And yet, despite two decades of anxiety about being of a certain age, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy finds our shambolic protagonist having achieved her heteronormative happily-ever-after. —Alison Willmore, Vulture, 12 Feb. 2025

There’s nothing like a mortgage and heteronormative domesticity to kill a romance, or so goes the thesis of Timothy Janovsky’s latest novel. —Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner, Vulture, 10 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

hetero- + normative

Note: The word was popularized, if not introduced, by the American critic and scholar Michael Warner (born 1958) in "Introduction: Fear of a Queer Planet," Social Text, no. 29 (1991), pp. 3-15.

First Known Use

1991, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for heteronormative

• formative
• normative
• informative
• performative
• uninformative