neutering

neu·ter

 (no͞o′tər, nyo͞o′-)

adj.

1. Grammar

a. Neither masculine nor feminine in gender.

b. Neither active nor passive; intransitive. Used of verbs.

2. Biology

a. Having undeveloped or nonfunctional sexual organs: the neuter caste in social insects.

b. Having pistils and stamens that are nonfunctional or absent.

3. Castrated or spayed. Used of animals.

4. Androgynous or asexual.

5. Archaic Taking no side in a dispute; neutral.

n.

1. Grammar

a. The neuter gender.

b. A neuter word.

c. A neuter noun.

2. An androgynous or asexual person.

3. A castrated animal.

4. An insect that has undeveloped or nonfunctional sexual organs, such as a worker bee.

5. Archaic One that is neutral in a dispute.

tr.v. neu·tered, neu·ter·ing, neu·ters

1. To castrate or spay.

2. To render ineffective or powerless: a scandal that neutered the politician.

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[Middle English neutre, from Old French, from Latin neuter, neither, neuter : ne-, not; see ne in Indo-European roots + uter, either; see k^wo- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

neutering - the sterilization of an animal; "they took him to the vet for neutering" altering, fixing sterilisation, sterilization - the act of making an organism barren or infertile (unable to reproduce) castration, emasculation - neutering a male animal by removing the testicles spaying - neutering a female by removing the ovaries

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