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Definition 2024


incel

incel

See also: -incel

English

Noun

incel (plural incels)

  1. (neologism) A person who never has sex despite wishing to.
    • 2004, Phineas Mollod & Jason Tesauro, The Modern Lover: A Playbook for Suitors, Spouses & Ringless Carousers, Ten Speed Press (2004), ISBN 1580086012, page 90:
      Though, involuntary celibates (or incels) shouldn't try to rationalize a dateless season or pass off sexual awkwardness as virtue; []
    • 2009, Luisa Dillner, Love by Numbers: The Hidden Facts Behind Everyone's Relationships, Profile Books (2009), ISBN 9781846680731, page 153:
      Another study by Donnelly of seventy-seven incels in marriages or long-term relationships in the Journal of Marriage and Family used a web-based questionnaire to ask people why they stayed in their sexless relationships (defined in this case as no sex for six months).
    • 2009, Talmer Shockley, The Love-Shy Survival Guide, Jessica Kingsley Publishers (2009), ISBN 9781843108979, page 15:
      People generally find it difficult to relate to love-shys and incels and wrongly assume we could obtain romance if we tried harder or lowered our standards.

See also

Adjective

incel (not comparable)

  1. (neologism) Not having had sexual relations despite wishing to.