homosexual
n. countablen. a person who is sexually or romantically attracted to people of their own gender. This word is very formal and can sound clinical or old-fashioned in everyday conversation.
n. a person who is sexually or romantically attracted to members of their own sex or gender. While historically used in medical and legal contexts, it is now often replaced by more specific or community-preferred terms like 'gay' or 'lesbian' in general discourse.
The researcher interviewed several homosexual men for the study.
The historical document discussed the rights of homosexuals in the early twentieth century.
Borrowed from German homosexual, from homo- (“same”) + sexual (“relating to sex or sexuality”), coined by Karl Maria Kertbeny in 1868, and popularized in Richard von Krafft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis (2nd ed. 1887, in German) and Charles Gilbert Chaddock's 1892 English translation thereof (compare bisexual), displacing the slightly older term Uranian. Equivalent to homo- + -sexual.
Often used as a formal or clinical descriptor; in modern social contexts, many people prefer the terms 'gay' or 'lesbian'.