neuter
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈnjuːtə/
ipa: /ˈn(j)utɚ/
rhymes: -uːtə(ɹ)
Forms: form: more neuter
form: most neuter
form: n.
form: n
form: ntr
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English neutre, from Latin neuter, from ne (“not”) + uter (“whether”), a semantic loan from Koine Greek οὐδέτερος (oudéteros); compare English whether and neither.
Senses: examples: text: But if I could, by Him that gave me life,
I would attach you all and make you stoop
Unto the sovereign mercy of the king;
But since I cannot, be it known to you
I do remain as neuter.
ref: 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene 3]:
text: This is certain, that in all our Undertakings God will be either our Friend or our Enemy. For Providence never stands neuter […]
ref: 1672, Robert South, “A Sermon Preach’d at Westminster-Abbey, on the Twenty Ninth of May, 1672. Being the Anniversary Festival appointed by Act of Parliament, for the Happy Restoration of King Charles II”, in Twelve Sermons and Discourses on Several Subjects and Occasions, 6th edition, volume 5, London: Jonah Bowyer, published 1727, page 271:
text: [A]s their firſt Security, they did all they could to foment War betwixt the neighbouring Negroes, remaining Neuter themselves, by which Means, thoſe who were overcome conſtantly fled to them for Protection, otherwiſe they must be either killed or made Slaves.
ref: 1724, Charles Johnson [pseudonym], “Of Captain Avery, and His Crew”, in A General History of the Pyrates, […], 2nd edition, London: Printed for, and sold by T. Warner, […], →OCLC, pages 59-60:
text: A relay race that does not match teams but integrates the fastest and the slowest in one race against the most neuter of all adversaries — time.
ref: 1973, Nancy Frazier, Myra Sadker, Sexism in school and society:
synonyms: word: impartial
word: neutral
word: candid
word: cold
word: clinical
word: detached
word: egal
word: equal
word: equitable
word: evenhanded
word: fairhanded
word: fair-minded
word: disinterested
word: dispassionate
word: impartial
word: imprejudicate
word: indifferent
word: indistinguishing
word: neuter
word: neutral
word: nonaligned
word: nonpartial
word: nonpartisan
word: nonpersonal
word: objective
word: unbiased
word: unbigoted
word: uninterested
word: unpartial
word: unpartisan
word: unprejudiced
word: unprepossessed
glosses: Neutral; on neither side; neither one thing nor another.
examples: text: a neuter noun
text: the neuter definite article
text: a neuter termination
text: the neuter gender
text: Slaves were given short, often neuter, names.
ref: 1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xiii:
text: In The Cook and the Carpenter, Arnold used the device of a neuter pronoun "na," instead of assigning gender to the characters.
ref: 1982 April 10, Maida Tilchen, “June Arnold Dies of Cancer”, in Gay Community News, page 3:
topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
coordinate_terms: feminine
masculine
glosses: Having a form which is not masculine nor feminine; or having a form which is not of common gender.
examples: text: a neuter verb
topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
synonyms: intransitive
glosses: Intransitive.
examples: text: […] I should never have anticipated that natural selection could have been efficient in so high a degree, had not the case of these neuter insects convinced me of the fact.
ref: 1859 November 24, Charles Darwin, “Instinct”, in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 242:
topics: biology
natural-sciences
synonyms: asexual
genderless
sexless
glosses: Sexless: having no or imperfectly developed sex organs.
examples: text: Rich girls stayed home and got married and then "put out" occasionally, but only as their wifely duty. Prior to the sexual revolution in the 1960s southern belles were the most neuter members of the human race[.]
ref: 2000, Jan Hutson, The Chicken Ranch: The True Story of the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, →ISBN, page 30:
synonyms: asexual
platonic
unsexual
glosses: Sexless, nonsexual.
synonyms: fixed
gelded
neutered
spayed
glosses: Castrated; having had the reproductive organs removed.
raw_tags: of an animal
Derived terms: topics: grammar
linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
word: neuter voice
topics: grammar
linguistics
human-sciences
sciences
word: neuter gender
word: neuterdom
word: neuterism
word: neuterlike
word: neuterly
word: neuterness
word: neuticles
word: nonneuter