neuter Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a gender that refers chiefly (but not exclusively) to inanimate objects (neither masculine nor feminine)
  2. verb remove the ovaries of
    castrate; spay; alter.
    • Is your cat spayed?
  3. adjective of grammatical gender
    • `it' is the third-person singular neuter pronoun
  4. adjective satellite having no or imperfectly developed or nonfunctional sex organs
    sexless.

WordNet


Neu"ter adjective
Etymology
L., fr. ne not + uter whether; akin to E. whether. See No, and Whether, and cf. Neither.
Definitions
  1. Neither the one thing nor the other; on neither side; impartial; neutral. Archaic
    In all our undertakings God will be either our friend or our enemy; for Providence never stands neuter. South.
  2. (Gram.) (a) Having a form belonging more especially to words which are not appellations of males or females; expressing or designating that which is of neither sex; as, a neuter noun; a neuter termination; the neuter gender. (b) Intransitive; as, a neuter verb.
  3. (Biol.) Having no generative organs, or imperfectly developed ones; sexless. See Neuter, n., 3.
Neu"ter noun
Definitions
  1. A person who takes no part in a contest; one who is either indifferent to a cause or forbears to interfere; a neutral.
    The world's no neuter; it will wound or save. Young.
  2. (Gram.) (a) A noun of the neuter gender; any one of those words which have the terminations usually found in neuter words. (b) An intransitive verb.
  3. (Biol.) 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; esp., 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.

Webster 1913