Dictionary Definition
neuter adj
1 of grammatical gender; "`it' is the
third-person singular neuter pronoun" [ant: masculine, feminine]
2 having no or imperfectly developed or
nonfunctional sex organs [syn: sexless] n : a gender that
refers chiefly (but not exclusively) to inanimate objects (neither
masculine nor feminine) v : remove the ovaries of; "Is your cat
spayed?" [syn: alter,
spay, castrate]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology
, from ne + uter; akin to English whether. See no and whether, and compare neither.Adjective
- Neither the one thing nor the other; on neither side; impartial; neutral.
- South — In all our undertakings God will be either our friend or our enemy; for Providence never stands neuter
- 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
- a neuter noun; the neuter definite article; a neuter termination; the neuter gender
- Intransitive
- a neuter verb
- Having no generative organs, or imperfectly developed ones; sexless.
Translations
Neither the one thing nor the other
Having a form belonging more especially to words
which are not appellations of males or females
- Danish: intetkøns-
- Dutch: onzijdig
- trreq French
- German: sächlich
- Greek: ουδέτερος
- Japanese: 中性の, 中性的な
- Korean: 중성의 (jungseong-ui)
- Marathi: नपुसकलिंगी (napusakalingee)
- Spanish: neutro
Intransitive
Having no generative organs, or imperfectly
developed ones
- Faroese: hvørkikyn
- Finnish: neutri- (2,4, in compounds), intransitiivinen (3)
- French: neutre
- Hebrew: ניטרלי (neytráli)
- Italian: neutro
- Japanese: 中性 (ちゅうせい, chūsei), 中立 (ちゅうりつ, chūritsu)
- Norwegian: nøytral (1), intetkjønn (2)
- Portuguese: neutro
- Romanian:neutru
- Russian: средний (srédnij) (2), непереходный (neperexódnyj) (3), бесполный (bespólnyj) (4), нейтральный
- Swedish: neutrum (2)
Noun
- A person who takes no part in a contest; one who is either
indifferent to a cause or forbears to interfere; a neutral.
- Young — The world’s no neuter; it will wound or save
- A noun of the neuter gender; any one of those words which have the terminations usually found in neuter words.
- An intransitive verb.
- 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.
Translations
- Danish: intetkønsord (2), kastrat (4)
- Finnish: neutraali (1), neutri (2, 4), puolueeton (1), intransitiiviverbi (3),
- German: Neutrum (2), Intransitivum (3)
- Greek: ουδέτερον γένος (oudéteron génos) (2)
- Icelandic: hvorugkyn
- Japanese: 中性 (ちゅうせい, chūsei)
- Russian: средний род (srédnij rod) (2)
- Swedish: neutrum (2)
Verb
Translations
to remove sex organs from an animal
- Danish: kastrere
- Dutch: onzijdig
- Ewe: ta
- Finnish: kuohita, kuohia, kastroida, leikata, steriloida
- French: châtrer
- German: verschneiden
- Greek: ευνουχίζω (evnoukhízo)
- Russian: кастрировать (kastrírovat’), обесплодить (obesplódit’)
- Spanish: castrar
Extensive Definition
The word neuter can refer to:
- the property of being neither biologically male or female
- the sterilization of an animal, neutering
- as a noun, a desexed male dog or other animal
- the neuter grammatical gender
It comes from Latin where it means neither of the
two, where ne : means none, and uter means either (of the
two).
neuter in French: Neutre
References
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Laodicean, alter, animate, anythingarian, apathetic, asexual, capon, castrate, castrated, centrist, change, cold, common gender, contemplative, cool, cut, desex, desexualize, do-nothing,
doctor, dormant, emasculate, emasculated, epicene, eunuchize, eunuchized, even, feminine, fence-sitter,
fervorless,
fifty-fifty, fix, frigid, frustrated, geld, gender, half-and-half, halfhearted, idle, immobile, impartial, impotent, inactive, inanimate, independent, indifferent, inert, laissez-aller,
laissez-faire, lukewarm, masculine, meditative, midway, moderate, motionless, mugwump, mutilate, neutral, nonaligned, noncommitted, nonpartisan, nothingarian, on the fence,
paralytic, paralyzed, passive, perfunctory, procrastinating,
quiescent, quietist, quietistic, sexless, spay, stagnant, stagnating, standpat, static, stationary, tepid, third force, third world,
third-force, third-world, uncommitted, uninvolved, unsex, unsexed, unsexual, vegetable, vegetative, zealless