copulating
Engaging in intercourse
Copulating means engaging in sexual intercourse.
The term is clinical and detached, favored in scientific and nature documentary contexts: The researchers observed the insects copulating.
It applies to animals and humans alike but sounds formal or euphemistic when describing people: They were copulating in the back seat.
Sexual intercourse between partners
- intercourseCommunication or sexual connection
- intimacyEmotional closeness between people
- foreplayPre-coital intimacy
- sensualityPursuit of physical pleasure
embrace · caress · passion · desire · closeness · tenderness · touch · consummation
Reproductive cultivation of organisms
- courtshipSeeking another's romantic favor
- mountingSteadily increasing in degree
- pairingJoining two together
- coitionSexual joining of bodies
insemination · fertilization · estrus · rut · heat · pheromones · nuptial · spawning
Copying or procreation
- fertilizationGamete fusion creating zygote
- procreationGenerating biological offspring
- conceptionFormation of an idea
- gametesReproductive cells for fusion
sperm · ovum · zygote · insemination · propagation · ovulation · conjugation · pollination
lovemaking
Sexual intercourse between partners
- intercourseCommunication or sexual connection
- intimacyEmotional closeness between people
- foreplayPre-coital intimacy
sensuality · embrace · caress · passion · desire · closeness · tenderness · touch · consummation · coitus
breeding
Reproductive cultivation of organisms
- courtshipSeeking another's romantic favor
- mountingSteadily increasing in degree
- pairingJoining two together
coition · insemination · fertilization · estrus · rut · heat · pheromones · nuptial · spawning · rutting
reproduction
Copying or procreation
- fertilizationGamete fusion creating zygote
- procreationGenerating biological offspring
- conceptionFormation of an idea
gametes · sperm · ovum · zygote · insemination · propagation · ovulation · conjugation · pollination · germination
copulatingabstaining
Voluntarily doing without
celibate · abstinent · chaste · refraining · virginal
copulatingseparating
Dividing into parts
withdrawing · disengaging · parting · uncoupling · pulling apart