incest

[ in-sest ]
See synonyms for incest on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. sexual intercourse between closely related persons.

  2. the crime of sexual intercourse, cohabitation, or marriage between persons within the degrees of consanguinity or affinity wherein marriage is legally forbidden.

Origin of incest

1
1175–1225; Middle English <Latin incestus (noun) sexual impurity, derivative of incestus (adj.) profane, sexually impure (in-in-3 + -cestus combining form of castuschaste), by analogy with v. nouns derived with -tus

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for incest

incest

/ (ˈɪnsɛst) /


noun
  1. sexual intercourse between two persons commonly regarded as too closely related to marry

Origin of incest

1
C13: from Latin incestus incest (from adj: impure, defiled), from in- 1 + castus chaste

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for incest

incest

Sexual relations between relatives who are forbidden by law to marry; for example, between father and daughter or mother and son.

Notes for incest

Though each society has its own system for determining the range of people who fall into this category, every society has an incest taboo of some sort.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.