obscene
Use Obscene in a sentence
adjective
1.
offensive to morality or decency; indecent; depraved: obscene language.
2.
causing uncontrolled sexual desire.
3.
abominable; disgusting; repulsive.
Origin:
1585–95; < Latin obscēnus, obscaenus
1585–95; < Latin obscēnus, obscaenus
Related forms
ob·scene·ly, adverb
ob·scene·ness, noun
un·ob·scene, adjective
un·ob·scene·ly, adverb
un·ob·scene·ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
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Link To obscene
00:10
Obscene
is always a great word to know.
So is zedonk. Does it mean:
| the offspring of a zebra and a donkey. |
| an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
obscene (əbˈsiːn) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —adj | |
| 1. | offensive or outrageous to accepted standards of decency or modesty |
| 2. | law (of publications) having a tendency to deprave or corrupt |
| 3. | disgusting; repellent: an obscene massacre |
| [C16: from Latin obscēnus inauspicious, perhaps related to caenum filth] | |
| ob'scenely | |
| —adv | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
obscene
1590s, "offensive to the senses, or to taste and refinement," from M.Fr. obscène, from L. obscenus "offensive," especially to modesty, originally "boding ill, inauspicious," perhaps from ob "onto" + cænum "filth." Meaning "offensive to modesty or decency" is attested from 1590s. Legally,
in U.S., it hinged on "whether to the average person, applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material taken as a whole appeals to a prurient interest." [Justice William Brennan, "Roth v. United States," June 24, 1957]; refined in 1973 by "Miller v. California":
"The basic guidelines for the trier of fact must be: (a) whether 'the average person, applying contemporary community standards' would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, (b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and (c) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
Those cattle they round up have become politically incorrect: for many, meat is an obscene cuisine.
They were too horrible and obscene even for hardened veterans.
It is obscene that his rants, distortions and rhetoric are not more clearly refuted.
There were constant charges that she exploited her position with obscene displays of greed.
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