Standard Lemma guide

gayness

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈɡeɪ.nəs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -eɪnəs
  • CMU ARPABET: G EY1 N AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The state of being gay (colorful or festive); display or dressiness.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated, rare, uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The state of being gay (cheerful); gaiety.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, dated, rare, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: gayfulness, joy, blitheness, blithesomeness, cheerfulness, cheeriness, contentness, contentedness, delight, delightedness, elatedness, elation, exuberance, exuberantness, felicity, gaiety, gayness, gladness, gladsomeness, glee, gleefulness, gleesomeness, happiness, high spirits, hilarity, jolliness, jollity, joviality, jovialness, joyfulness, joyousness, liss, merriment, merriness, mirth, mirthfulness, pleasedness

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The state of being gay (homosexual); homosexuality; demeanor stereotypically representative of it.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: homosexuality, gay, faggotry

Antonyms: none provided

Narrower terms: lesbianism

4

noun

Meaning 4

a sexual attraction to (or sexual relations with) persons of the same sex

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: homosexuality, homosexualism, homoeroticism, queerness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: sexual activity, sexual practice, sex, sex activity

Narrower terms: inversion, sexual inversion, lesbianism, sapphism, pederasty, paederasty

History

Etymology

From Middle English gaynesse, equivalent to gay + -ness.

Across languages

Translations

14 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Dutch: blijheid — the state of being cheerful
  • Finnish: hilpeys — the state of being cheerful
  • Welsh: hoywdeb — the state of being cheerful
  • Welsh: hoywder — the state of being cheerful
  • Chichewa: ugeyi — homosexuality — see also homosexuality
  • Finnish: homous — homosexuality — see also homosexuality
  • Finnish: lesbous — homosexuality — see also homosexuality
  • Greenlandic: anguteqatinik atoqateqartarneq — homosexuality — see also homosexuality
  • Greenlandic: arnaqatinik atoqateqartarneq — homosexuality — see also homosexuality
  • Northern Sami: homovuohta — homosexuality — see also homosexuality
  • Northern Sami: lesbavuohta — homosexuality — see also homosexuality
  • Swedish: bögeri — homosexuality — see also homosexuality
  • Swedish: lesbiskhet — homosexuality — see also homosexuality
  • Welsh: hoywder — homosexuality — see also homosexuality