neuter

See also: Neuter

neuter - English

Alternative forms

  • n., n, ntr (abbreviation, grammar)

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈnjuːtə/
  • (US) IPA: /ˈn(j)utɚ/

Adjective

neuter (not generally comparable, comparative more neuter, superlative most neuter)

  1. (now uncommon) Neutral; on neither side; neither one thing nor another.
  2. (grammar) Having a form which is not masculine nor feminine; or having a form which is not of common gender.
    • a neuter noun
    • the neuter definite article
    • a neuter termination
    • the neuter gender
  3. (grammar) Intransitive.
  4. (biology) Sexless: having no or imperfectly developed sex organs.
  5. (literary) Sexless, nonsexual.

Synonyms

Coordinate terms

Translations

  • Bulgarian: безполов (bg) (bezpolov)
  • Danish: ukønnet, kønsløs
  • Dutch: aseksueel (nl), ongeslachtelijk (nl)
  • Finnish: sukupuoleton
  • French: asexuel (fr)
  • German: geschlechtslos (de)
  • Greek: άφυλος (el) (áfylos)
  • Hebrew: מסורס \ מְסֹרָס
  • Hungarian: nem nélküli
  • Japanese: (please verify) 未成熟な (miseijuku na), (please verify) 未発達の (mihattatsu no)
  • Korean: 무성(無性) (museong-ui)
  • Latin: neuter (la)
  • Marathi: अलिंगी (aliṅgī)
  • Norwegian:
  • Portuguese: neutro (pt)
  • Russian: беспо́лый (ru) (bespólyj)
  • Spanish: neutro (es)

Noun

neuter (plural neuters)

  1. (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.
  2. A person who takes no part in a contest; someone remaining neutral.
  3. (grammar) The neuter gender.
  4. (grammar) A noun of the neuter gender; any one of those words which have the terminations usually found in neuter words.
  5. (grammar) An intransitive verb or state-of-being verb.

Quotations

  • For quotations using this term, see neuter.

Coordinate terms

Translations

Verb

neuter (third-person singular simple present neuters, present participle neutering, simple past and past participle neutered)

  1. To remove sex organs from an animal to prevent it from having offspring; to castrate or spay, particularly as applied to domestic animals.
  2. To rid of sexuality.
  3. To drastically reduce the effectiveness of something.
    • Congress neutered the bill by adding an exception for big corporations.

Synonyms

Translations

Anagrams

neuter - Latin

Pronunciation

  • (Classical) IPA: /ˈne.u.ter/, [ˈneʊt̪ɛr]
  • (Late Latin) IPA: /ˈneu̯.ter/, [ˈnɛu̯t̪ɛr]
  • (Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈneu̯.ter/, [ˈnɛːu̯t̪er]
  • Note: always trisyllabic in Classical, often disyllabic in Late Latin.

Adjective

neuter (feminine neutra, neuter neutrum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er, pronominal)

  1. neither
  2. (grammar) neuter (gender)
  3. (grammar) neuter, intransitive (of a verb)

Usage notes

  • In the grammatical senses, the declension of this adjective is not pronominal, but attributive (regular). Thus for the sense of the grammatical category of "neuter gender", the genitive is neutrī (generis), and the dative is neutrō (generī).

Declension

First/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er, pronominal).

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative neuter neutra neutrum neutrī neutrae neutra
Genitive neutrī̆us neutrōrum neutrārum neutrōrum
Dative neutrī neutrīs
Accusative neutrum neutram neutrum neutrōs neutrās neutra
Ablative neutrō neutrā neutrō neutrīs
Vocative neuter neutra neutrum neutrī neutrae neutra

Derived terms

Descendants

Meaning and Definition of neuter
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