neuter
UK /ˈnjuːtə/ · US /ˈn(j)utɚ/ adjective, noun, verb
Forms neuters neutering neutered n. n ntr
- adjective (now uncommon) Neutral; on neither side; neither one thing nor another.
- adjective (grammar) Having a form which is not masculine nor feminine; or having a form which is not of common gender. “a neuter noun”
- adjective (grammar) Intransitive. “a neuter verb”
- adjective (biology) Sexless: having no or imperfectly developed sex organs.
- adjective (literary) Sexless, non-sexual.
- adjective (of an animal) Castrated; having had the reproductive organs removed.
- noun (biology) An organism, either vegetable or animal, which at its maturity has no generative organs, or but imperfectly developed ones, as a plant without stamens or pistils, as the garden Hydrangea; especially, one of the imperfectly developed females of certain social insects, as of the ant and the common honeybee, which perform the labors of the community, and are called workers.
- noun (uncommon, sometimes offensive) One who has been neutered; eunuch.
- noun The act of neutering (typically an animal)
- noun A person who takes no part in a contest; someone remaining neutral.
- noun (grammar) The neuter gender.
- noun (grammar) A noun of the neuter gender; any one of those words which have the terminations usually found in neuter words.
- noun (grammar) An intransitive verb or state-of-being verb.
- verb (transitive) To remove sex organs from an animal to prevent it from having offspring; to castrate or spay, particularly as applied to domestic animals.
- verb (transitive) To rid of sexuality.
- verb (transitive) To drastically reduce the effectiveness of something. “Congress neutered the bill by adding an exception for big corporations.”
- verb (transitive) To make grammatically neuter.
Synonyms
impartial neutral candid cold clinical detached egal equal equitable evenhanded fairhanded fair-minded disinterested dispassionate imprejudicate indifferent indistinguishing nonaligned nonpartial nonpartisan alter spay castrate sexless
Antonyms
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English neutre, from Latin neuter, from ne (“not”) + uter (“either”), a semantic loan from Koine Greek οὐδέτερος (oudéteros); compare English either, English whether, and neither.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Neither the one thing nor the other; on neither side; impartial; neutral. [Archaic]
- adjective (a) Having a form belonging more especially to words which are not appellations of males or females; expressing or designating that which is of neither sex; as, a neuter noun; a neuter termination; the neuter gender.
- noun A person who takes no part in a contest; one who is either indifferent to a cause or forbears to interfere; a neutral.
- noun (a) A noun of the neuter gender; any one of those words which have the terminations usually found in neuter words.
Etymology [L., fr. ne not + uter whether; akin to E. whether. See No, and Whether, and cf. Neither.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “neuter”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details