FAIR SEX Definition & Meaning

View synonyms for

fair sex

or fairer sex

noun

Older Use: Sometimes Offensive.

women as a group (usually used facetiously):
an insult to the fair sex.

fair sex

noun

the fair sex
women collectively

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Sensitive Note

This is a dated term, usually used for humorous effect. It uses the word fair in the sense of “physically attractive”; because it refers to a woman in terms of her appearance, it is sometimes perceived as demeaning.

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��t¶�� History and Origins

Origin of fair sex¹

First recorded in 1680–90

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Idioms and Phrases

Girls or women, as in Many women would object to being called the fair sex nowadays . This euphemism uses fair in the sense of “physically beautiful” and is probably dying out. [Mid-1600s]

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Particularly jarring is his chapter titled “A Question of Sex,” which is introduced like this: “Only recently has a quiet revolution granted the fair sex a fairer status.”

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She also tried to ignore the condescending remarks by TASS, the government news agency, about her being of the fair sex.

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The fine weather ensured that “many of the fair sex” were on hand for the game, as the Montgomery Advertiser reported.

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“I used to think my old friend here was immune to the charms of the fair sex,” said Hallgrimsson.

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Moreover he believed that if the fair sex insisted on eating oranges or mangoes, they should at least do so in the privacy of their own bathrooms.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from ��t¶�� Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

fair rent fair shake

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fair sex

noun

noun

Sensitive Note

�������t¶�� History and Origins

Idioms and Phrases

Example Sentences

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��t¶�� History and Origins