sexual intercourse

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sexual intercourse (countable and uncountable, plural sexual intercourses)

1. Coitus or genital-genital sexual contact.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:copulation

   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 129:

     The yogi hopes to gain the universal feminine of Shakti by giving up sexual intercourse; he offers up his phallus in celibacy.

2. Sexual interaction, usually involving vaginal, anal, or oral penetration, between at least two organisms.

   Synonym: lovemaking

   • 1974, Thomas S. Szasz, M.D., chapter 8, in The Myth of Mental Illness, →ISBN, page 139:

     Dating and courtship provide many examples of indirect communications. The young man may want sexual intercourse. The young woman may want marriage. In the initial stages of the dating game neither knows just what the other wants. Hence, they do not know precisely what game they are going to play. Moreover, in our culture direct communications about sexual interests and activities are still felt to be discouraged, even prohibited. Hinting and alluding thus become indispensable methods of communication.

   • 2009, John Bancroft, Human Sexuality and Its Problems, page 197:

     Mosher et al (2005), from the NSFG for 2002, reported on the percentage of each age group who had experienced oral sex but not sexual intercourse.

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