transgender

adj

1. (broadly, not-comparable)Of a person: having a gender (identity) which is different from one's assigned sex; that is, the identity of a trans man, trans woman, or someone non-binary, for example, agender, bigender, or third-gender.

   “We have taken to the local radio station, to talk about transgender problems. Carol Fremont is working in this area, and by General Conference we should have some interesting insights and understandings to share regarding transgender persons.”

   “Christine Jorgensen, the world's first highly publicized transsexual – or "trans-gender" patient – never planned to be famous because of her surgery.”

   “One head of a small gay charity visibly flinched when I mentioned my boyfriend and has been cold towards me ever since. I've even caught someone staring down my top to see if I'm transgender.”

   “The film, "Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives," is described by its creator, Israel Luna, as an homage to 1970s exploitation films. But the inclusion of the word "trannie"—a pejorative, in some circles—in the title, and the film's parodic representation of transgender women, has offended many people.”

   “A Chinese court on Thursday found that a transgender man was unjustly fired from his job, a first-of-its-kind ruling that activists called a step forward in the fight for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. […] Mr. C, a transgender Chinese man who says he was fired for wearing men's clothes, stands outside a court in Guiyang, China, July 27, 2017, holding the court’s ruling that his dismissal violated his employment rights.”

2. (broadly, not-comparable)Of a person: having a gender (identity) which is different from one's assigned sex; that is, the identity of a trans man, trans woman, or someone non-binary, for example, agender, bigender, or third-gender.

   “What is happening in the world at the time, restrictions or freedom in sex-role choices, or in access to clothing fabrics and styles—none of these have much influence on the transgender person’s desire to be the opposite sex.”

   “She emphasises that being transgender really has nothing to do with your anatomy. There are terms for individuals who have undergone sex reassignment surgery – “transexed”, for example – whereas to be transgender is simply to have the conviction that you are the opposite gender to the body you have been assigned.”

   “Biology has a strong effect on whether people identify as female, male, or transgender. A transgender person was born as one biological sex but feels that her true gender identity is that of the other sex. One theory of why gender and biological sex differ for those who are transgender has to do with timing of hormonal events during pregnancy.”

3. (broadly, not-comparable)Of a person: transgressing or not identifying with culturally conventional gender roles and categories of male or female.

   “I think the new punk rockers are going to be more androgynous, more bisexual, more transgender, more ethnically diverse and less willing to take shit than before, as well as less homophobic, racist, and sexist, not because it's politically correct, man, but because all of those things stink of a parent's world of authoritarian bullshit that want to deprive people of their individuality.”

   “Less noticed, however, is that gender nonconformists have been working together, with some remarkable successes, to build a political movement. Their first step was to reclaim the power to name themselves: transgender is now the term most widely used, and it encompasses everyone from cross-dressers (those who dress in clothes of the opposite sex) to transsexuals (those who surgically "correct" their genitals to match their "real" gender).”

4. (not-comparable)Of or pertaining to transgender people (adjective sense 1), or their experiences or identity.

   “We have taken to the local radio station, to talk about transgender problems.”

   “A Chinese court on Thursday found that a transgender man was unjustly fired from his job, a first-of-its-kind ruling that activists called a step forward in the fight for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.”

   “The vision of The Matrix as an elaborate transgender allegory is now the ruling framework when considering the film’s historical significance, leapfrogging the initial frenzy over its technical achievements.”

5. (not-comparable)Of a space: intended primarily for transgender people.

   “Despite the significant HIV/AIDS risks faced by transgenders, we could locate targeted prevention programs in only a handful of locations throughout the country. […] In Boston, no AIDS prevention messages are posted at the primary drag queen and transgender bar.”

   “The Las Vegas Lounge is the city's only transgender bar.”

   “Trance […] A thriving transgender bar on the main Itaewon drag, […]”

   “Belgium-based Filipino dancer Joshua Serafin’s performance later this week at the Taipei Arts Festival explores transgender beauty pageants from the Philippines and the politics, culture and hidden colonial past behind the industry, the artist said Tuesday.”

6. (not-comparable)Of a space: available for use by transgender people, rather than only non-transgender people.

   “Group wants transgender bathrooms for UMASS [title]”

   “Why the sudden outcry for transgender bathrooms? The answer is easy, the activists behind this movement are using a petty issue like bathrooms as a medium to throw their lifestyles in the face of every-day students.”

   “In contrast, in a democratic conversation or dialogue, the speaker would begin by identifying the larger public issues that connect to the availability of transgender bathrooms: equality, civil rights, […]”

7. (dated, not-comparable)Synonym of crossgender (“across multiple genders”).

   “Of course some unhappiness is simply a transgender phenomenon. Realists learn to expect a day in which perhaps 40 to 80 per cent is made up of repetition of what was done the day before and the day before that. Any set of normal days with over 20 per cent of excitement in them would be extraordinary. Consequently, the mere fact of being human, whether male or female, requires endurance, tolerance, a sense of moderate wholesome expectations.”

   “Those are the winning entries in the Chicago Association of Business Communicators' contest to find pronouns to replace she and he [ey], him and her [em], his and hers [eir]. […] [C]ontest winner Christine M. Elverson of Skokie says her words are "transgender pronouns." She formed them by dropping "the" from the familiar plural pronouns, they, them, and their. For example, a speaker might use these new transgender pronouns when ey addresses an audience of both men and women.”

   “Unless we have identified "male" and "female" aspects of thought, however, the claim of gender bias is an empty one. I do not doubt that disciplines are also shaped by transgender interests, values, and concepts, which women, whether or not they engage in maternal practices, may fully share.”

   “Unlike capitalism, under socialist transformation there is a normative basis for maintaining the principle of collective (transgender) responsibility in the activity of reproduction and childrearing, as in everything else.”

   “Not only do men share in the responsibility for children—but also, toxic chemicals that affect women’s reproductive health do not bypass the male reproductive system. In Bhopal, for example, impotence and loss of libido were reported among a large proportion of exposed males. Reproductive effects are a transgender issue that men as well as women should address.”

noun

1. (countable, offensive, often, usually)A transgender person

   “"If you understand trans-genders," she [Christine Jorgensen] says, choosing the word she prefers to transsexuals, "then you understand that gender is different than sexual preference. It doesn't have to do with bed partners, it has to do with identity." Jorgensen says she knows of some male-to-female trans-genders who have settled into lesbian relationships. She herself is heterosexual.”

   “transgender—an individual who lives as a person of a gender different from the one society defines for that person's sex (e.g., male "transvestites" who wear women's clothing, hair styles and other body accoutrements, use "feminine" speech and body language, and identify with the gender category woman). Also sometimes referred to as "cross-gendered people" (Blackwood 1984).”

   “In a patriarchal society in which machismo rules, MTF [male-to-female] transgenders represent a challenge to traditional masculinity due to their renouncing of the male position of social power.”

   “There were divisions for [netball] teams of men, women, mixed and transgenders. Individual transgenders could compete in any division; however, transgender teams could not play against biological women's teams.”

   “This public presentation of the mutilation of the penis is not obviously very different from the forms of disassembly of the penis engaged in by male body modifiers—particularly nullos and transgenders—on the Body Modification Ezine website.”

2. (countable, offensive, often, uncountable, usually)A transgender person
3. (rare, uncountable, usually)Synonym of transgenderism (“the state of being transgender”).

   “In spite of not "rootin' and tootin'" as a trans-gender case, in recent years [Christine] Jorgensen has been a staple on the college lecture circuit, speaking – of course – about trans-gender and herself.”

   “The Scientific Humanitarian Committee published a yearbook that reported on movement activities. It also documented literary, cross-cultural, cross-historical and scientific studies on same-sex love and transgender.”

   “Before we can answer this question, we need to consider two other phenomena – transsex and transgender – which also expose the muddle within conventional categories of sex.”

verb

1. (offensive, often, transitive, uncommon)To change the gender of (someone).

   “[…] and one that is still dominated by male nominees, women nominees might be seen as either contributing to the regendering, or the transgendering, of the Cabinet. […] This chapter examines women secretaries-designate in terms of their contributions to regendering or transgendering a cabinet office, to a gender desegregation or integration of the cabinet.”

2. (broadly, offensive, often, transitive, uncommon)To change the sex of (someone).