Meaning & use

sexualizing

verb·Advanced

Giving something or someone a sexual character or emphasizing sexual qualities, often inappropriately.

See it in a sentence

Critics accused the advertisement of sexualizing the teenage models in its clothing line.

The film was criticized for sexualizing a scene that should have stayed purely comedic.

A note on using this word

Sexualizing often appears in discussions of media, especially when applied to minors or otherwise ordinary, non-sexual contexts.

Words with a similar meaning

eroticizing

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

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