sex

sex¹ W2S1 [seks] n

[Date: 1300-1400; : Latin; Origin: sexus]

1.) [U]

the physical activity that two people do together in order to produce babies, or for pleasure

▪ All you see on TV is sex and violence these days.

▪ They had sex in the back seat of his car.

▪ She no longer wanted to have sex with him.

premarital sex/sex before marriage

(=sex happening before marriage)

▪ the dangers of casual sex (=having sex with someone without intending to have a serious relationship)

safe sex

(=ways of having sex that reduce the spread of sexual diseases)

unprotected sex

(=sex without a ↑condom)

2.) [U]

whether a person, plant, or animal is male or female

▪ Put your name, and sex at the top of the form.

3.)

all men, considered as a group, or all women, considered as a group

▪ He found it difficult to talk to members of the opposite sex (=people that were not his own sex) .

▪ People of both sexes (=both men and women) buy her records.

4.) single-sex school/college etc

BrE a school etc for either males or females, but not for both together

sex ²

sex² v [T] technical

to find out whether an animal is male or female