Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Offensive to accepted standards of decency.
- adjective Law Of or relating to materials that can be regulated or criminalized because their depiction of nudity, sex, or excretion is patently offensive and without artistic or scientific value.
- adjective Morally repulsive; disgusting.
- adjective So extreme in amount as to be objectionable or outrageous.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Inauspicious; ill-omened.
- Offensive to the senses; repulsive; disgusting; foul; filthy.
- Offensive to modesty and decency; impure; unchaste; indecent: lewd: as, obscene actions or language; obscene pictures.
- Synonyms Immodest, ribald, gross.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Offensive to chastity or modesty; expressing or presenting to the mind or view something which delicacy, purity, and decency forbid to be exposed; impure
- adjective Foul; fifthy; disgusting.
- adjective rare, A Latinism Inauspicious; ill-omened.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
Offensive tocurrent standards ofdecency ormorality - adjective
Lewd orlustful - adjective
Disgusting orrepulsive - adjective
Beyond allreason - adjective
Liable todeprave orcorrupt
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective designed to incite to indecency or lust
- adjective suggestive of or tending to moral looseness
- adjective offensive to the mind
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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And just months later, a Chinese official accused the tech giant of spreading what he called obscene content via the Internet.
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Obama also said his determination is heightened by reports of massive bank profits and what he called obscene bonuses.
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Obama also said his determination is heightened by reports of massive bank profits and what he called obscene bonuses.
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In its final form, this criminal statute prohibited trafficking in "obscene" materials related to sex or reproduction, and forbade the "use of any drug, medicine, article, or instrument for the purpose of preventing conception."
'Trivial Complaints:' The Role of Privacy in Domestic Violence Law and Activism in the U.S. 2008
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Especially Hasbro toys, which are mass produced in obscene numbers. clueless schmo
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What is unacceptable is to see bank officers continuing to rake in obscene salaries after mismanaging the banks for a decade, the financial elite manipulating the corporate and bankruptcy laws to free themselves of debt while maintaining their extravagant lifestyles, and the clueless politicians wasting their time on trivial matters while the rest of us slowly bleed to death.
Iris Erlingsdottir: Iceland Is Simmering Iris Erlingsdottir 2010
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This carbon loophole has allowed pollution giants like Exxon Mobil, Koch Industries, Peabody Coal, and Massey Energy to ravage the planet, sicken our children, and rake in obscene profits for decades.
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What is unacceptable is to see bank officers continuing to rake in obscene salaries after mismanaging the banks for a decade, the financial elite manipulating the corporate and bankruptcy laws to free themselves of debt while maintaining their extravagant lifestyles, and the clueless politicians wasting their time on trivial matters while the rest of us slowly bleed to death.
Iris Erlingsdottir: Iceland Is Simmering Iris Erlingsdottir 2010
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Karl Rove and his fellow GOP hatchetmen are raking in obscene amounts of undisclosed money, using it to lie to voters, all the while lying about the campaign finance fiasco that's allowing them to buy an election cycle.
Happy Hour Roundup Greg Sargent 2010
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Libyan Spider, one of the registered sellers of. ly domains, does state on its site that content must not contain "obscene and indecent names/phrases, including words of a sexual nature" and "sex" does seem to be a word of a sexual nature.
VB.ly, Bit.ly and Mitt.ly in danger? Oh real.ly? Trouble in .ly domain land. Melissa Bell 2010
bilby commented on the word obscene
"Women should be obscene and not heard."
- Groucho Marx.
December 24, 2007
gangerh commented on the word obscene
I heard on the radio today that this word is from Greek and simply meant off-stage.
May 9, 2008
dontcry commented on the word obscene
That makes me wonder what the heck was going on off-stage!
May 10, 2008
thebighenry commented on the word obscene
What was happening on-stage?
May 10, 2008