lesbian

adjective les·bi·an \ ˈlez-bē-ən \

Definition of lesbian

1 often capitalized :of or relating to Lesbos

[from the reputed homosexual band associated with Sappho of Lesbos]

:of or relating to homosexuality between females

Recent Examples of lesbian from the Web

Here was a young, feisty, creative, and partisan woman — an out lesbian whose sexuality was unimportant.

— michael brendan dougherty, National Review, "The Great Conservative Rethink Isn’t Going Away," 31 July 2017
The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ+) young people between the ages of 13 and 24.

— chanel vargas, Harper's BAZAAR, "10 Ways You Can Help the Transgender Community Today," 26 July 2017
Becerra cited a new law meant to protect Kentucky students' religious freedom that has been criticized as discriminatory toward the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

— phillip m. bailey, The Courier-Journal, "Kentucky lawmaker: Repealing law is only way to lift California travel ban," 12 July 2017
The survey was conducted online by SurveyMonkey between June 21 and June 24 among a national sample of 841 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults.

— katy steinmetz, Time, "LGBT Americans Say They Feel Less Safe Under President Trump: Poll," 10 July 2017
The idea of a student group to discuss lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues did not sit well with Alabama Baptist leaders who have historically supported Samford University.

— greg garrison, AL.com, "Samford won't accept Baptist convention funds after LGBT flap," 8 July 2017
And an honorary mention to the lesbian group whose Dyke March in Chicago banned a rainbow flag with the Star of David on it — while hailing Muslim countries where gay people are lucky not to be lynched every day.

— andrew sullivan, Daily Intelligencer, "Cardinal Pell and the Vatican’s Day of Reckoning," 30 June 2017
Wells said his resolution was not an endorsement of the lifestyle of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people or the growing national movement to improve acceptance of LGBT people in society.

— kim chatelain, NOLA.com, "St. Tammany GOP withdraws Trump LGBT resolution," 28 June 2017
The justices ruled in favor of lesbian couples by throwing out a December ruling by the Arkansas Supreme Court decision that upheld state officials' refusal to name the wives of the birth mothers as parents on birth certificates.

— lawrence hurley, Alaska Dispatch News, "Supreme Court to hear baker’s religious objection to making cake for gay couple," 26 June 2017

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

First Known Use of lesbian

1567

lesbian

noun

Definition of lesbian

:a woman who is a homosexual

See lesbian defined for English-language learners

See lesbian defined for kids

Recent Examples of lesbian from the Web

Compared with Sanders-Clinton voters, Sanders-Trump voters rated Latinos 21 points less favorably, Muslims 21 points less favorably, and gays and lesbians 22 points less favorably.

— john sides, Washington Post, "Did enough Bernie Sanders supporters vote for Trump to cost Clinton the election?," 24 Aug. 2017
Attacks on racial minorities, feminists, and gays and lesbians are common.

— timothy b. lee, Ars Technica, "Racist Daily Stormer goes down again as Cloudflare drops support," 17 Aug. 2017
The argument that allowing a new cohort of recruits would harm military readiness was ultimately rejected in the case of allowing African-Americans in the 1940s, women in combat in the 1990s and gays and lesbians in 2010.

— helene cooper, New York Times, "Trump Cites Familiar Argument in Ban on Transgender Troops," 3 Aug. 2017
As a presidential candidate, Trump last year vowed to fight for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people.

— phil stewart and idrees ali, Alaska Dispatch News, "No changes yet to military’s transgender policy, says top U.S. general," 27 July 2017
It was set to hold one here in 2015, but moved it to Columbus, Ohio, as a protest against the Indiana legislature's passage of its religious-freedom law, which the church and others believed allowed discrimination against gays and lesbians.

— dwight adams, Indianapolis Star, "An Indy-based church of diversity elects first black woman to lead a major denomination," 13 July 2017
The column had to do with the action by California to ban state travel to Kentucky because of a new Kentucky law that some say can be implemented to discriminate against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people.

— joseph gerth, The Courier-Journal, "'Elitist' Louisville and Lexington prop up small-town Kentucky," 13 July 2017
Your tired jokes about Subarus being driven by lesbians. •

— jared gall, Car and Driver, "The Car and Driver Guide to Automotive Bullsh!t," 3 July 2017
The Pew Research Center survey found that for the first time, a majority of blacks and baby boomers support allowing gays and lesbians to wed.

— david crary, The Seattle Times, "Support for gay marriage surges, even among groups once wary," 26 June 2017

First Known Use of lesbian

circa 1890

Medical Dictionary

lesbian

adjective les·bi·an \ ˈlez-bē-ən \

medical Definition of lesbian

:of or relating to homosexuality between females

lesbian

noun

medical Definition of lesbian

:a female homosexual

Learn More about lesbian

Spanish Central: Translation of lesbian Nglish: Translation of lesbian for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of lesbian for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about lesbian

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lesbian

Definition of lesbian

Recent Examples of lesbian from the Web

First Known Use of lesbian

lesbian

Definition of lesbian

Recent Examples of lesbian from the Web

First Known Use of lesbian

Medical Dictionary

lesbian

medical Definition of lesbian

lesbian

medical Definition of lesbian

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lesbian

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lesbian

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lesbian

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