lesbian

American  

[lez-bee-uhn] / ˈlɛz bi ən /

noun

1. 1. a woman who is sexually or romantically attracted to other women; a gay woman.

   2. a woman who is sexually or romantically attracted exclusively to other women; a gay woman.

2. Lesbian, an inhabitant of the island of Lesbos.

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adjective

1. 1. of, relating to, or being a woman who is sexually or romantically attracted to people of her own sex or gender.

   2. of, relating to, or being a woman who is sexually or romantically attracted exclusively to people of her own sex or gender.

2. Sometimes Lesbian erotic; sensual

3. Lesbian, of or relating to Lesbos.

Lesbian ¹ British  

/ ˈlɛzbɪən /

noun

1. a native or inhabitant of Lesbos

2. the Aeolic dialect of Ancient Greek spoken in Lesbos

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adjective

1. of or relating to Lesbos

2. of or relating to the poetry of Lesbos, esp that of Sappho

lesbian ² British  

/ ˈlɛzbɪən /

noun

1. a female homosexual

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adjective

1. of or characteristic of lesbians

lesbian Cultural  

1. A homosexual woman. (See also gay.)

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Usage

What's the difference between lesbian and Sapphic? See gay ( def. ).

Other Word Forms

• lesbianism noun

Etymology

Origin of lesbian

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin Lesbi(us) “Lesbian” (from Greek Lésbios, equivalent to Lésb(os) “Lesbos” ( Lesbos ) + -ios adjective suffix) + -an; lesbian defs. 1, 3 allude to the poet Sappho of Lesbos, whose verse deals largely with her emotional relationships with other women

Example Sentences

In 2022, 20% of adults under 24 identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey.

From The Wall Street Journal

Grace is now 34 and runs a charity, the Uganda Minority Shelters Consortium, which provides safe housing to gay men and lesbians across Uganda.

From The Wall Street Journal

Men, compared with women, however, and people who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual were more likely to have previously engaged in consensual nonmonogamy, according to the study.

From Los Angeles Times

A young mother at this points, she leaves her daughter, SaraLee, in the care of her family while she finds work and a stabilizing lesbian relationship in Anchorage.

From Los Angeles Times

Yet her reasons were as much political as personal, stemming from an urge to document her life as a newly out lesbian in the 1970s, when such representation was vanishingly rare.

From The Wall Street Journal