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libertines

 - 3 dictionary results

lib⋅er⋅tine

  [lib-er-teen, -tin]
Use libertines in a Sentence
–noun
1. a person who is morally or sexually unrestrained, esp. a dissolute man; a profligate; rake.
2. a freethinker in religious matters.
3. a person freed from slavery in ancient Rome.
–adjective
4. free of moral, esp. sexual, restraint; dissolute; licentious.
5. freethinking in religious matters.
6. Archaic. unrestrained; uncontrolled.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME libertyn < L lībertīnus of a freedman (adj.), freedman (n.), equiv. to lībert(us) freedman (appar. by reanalysis of liber-tās liberty as libert-ās) + -īnus -ine 1

Synonyms:
1. roué, debauchee, lecher, sensualist. 4. amoral, sensual, lascivious, lewd.

Antonyms:
1. prude.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To libertines
lib·er·tine   (lĭb'ər-tēn')   
n.  

  1. One who acts without moral restraint; a dissolute person.

  2. One who defies established religious precepts; a freethinker.

adj.  Morally unrestrained; dissolute.

[Middle English, freedman, from Latin lībertīnus, from lībertus, from līber, free; see leudh- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

libertine 
1382, "an emancipated slave," from L. libertinus "member of a class of freedmen," from libertus "one's freedmen," from liber "free" (see liberal). Sense of "freethinker" is first recorded 1563, from Fr. libertin (1542) originally the name given to certain Protestant sects in France and the Low Countries. Meaning "dissolute or licentious person" first recorded 1593; the darkening of meaning being perhaps due to misunderstanding of L. libertinus in Acts vi.9.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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