Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The state or quality of being obscene.
- noun Indecency, lewdness, or offensiveness in behavior, expression, or appearance.
- noun Something, such as a word, act, or expression, that is indecent or lewd.
- noun Something that is offensive or repulsive to the senses.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The state or character of being obscene; impurity or indecency in action, expression, or representation: licentiousness; lewdness.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun That quality in words or things which presents what is offensive to chastity or purity of mind; obscene or impure lanquage or acts; moral impurity; lewdness; obsceneness.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun countable Something that is
obscene . - noun countable An act of obscene
behaviour . - noun countable Specifically, an
offensive word; aprofanity ; adirty word . - noun uncountable The qualities that make something obscene;
lewdness ,indecency , or offensive behaviour.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the trait of behaving in an obscene manner
- noun an offensive or indecent word or phrase
- noun an obscene act
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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There is also what we call obscenity, that is hardcore pornography that is also illegal, even for adults, and that includes graphic sexual acts and also the deviant forms of pornography like bestiality, torture, rape.
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Plus, "Indecent Crackdown," the government cracked down on what it calls obscenity but is their definition the same as yours?
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Smith notes how Cocteau once said of a Jean Genet poem, "His obscenity is never obscene."
"Ziggy played for time, jiving us that we were voodoo." greygirlbeast 2010
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The best solution in the wake of both the special election and this obscenity from the supreme court is to pass a constitutional amendment revoking the ridiculous claim of person hood for corporations and there by protections under the first amendment.
Think Progress » Health insurers spent $38 million lobbying Congress in 2009. 2010
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Smith notes how Cocteau once said of a Jean Genet poem, "His obscenity is never obscene."
"Ziggy played for time, jiving us that we were voodoo." greygirlbeast 2010
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CNN: Editor in obscenity trial for childbirth photos
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But the true obscenity is the frighteningly large population still willing to espouse torture as government policy, not just pundits but holders of high office.
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The best solution in the wake of both the special election and this obscenity from the supreme court is to pass a constitutional amendment revoking the ridiculous claim of person hood for corporations and there by protections under the first amendment.
Think Progress » Chuck Todd: ‘The Tea Party gets a big benefit’ from Fox News’ promotion. 2010
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In other words, instead of a “child pornography” exception which is pretty black and white, it should be more nuanced as seen in obscenity law and have a number of components, namely:
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The best solution in the wake of both the special election and this obscenity from the supreme court is to pass a constitutional amendment …
Think Progress » Chuck Todd: ‘The Tea Party gets a big benefit’ from Fox News’ promotion. 2010
hernesheir commented on the word obscenity
For information about the first printed examples of the "f" and "c" words, see the long entry @ flyting.
September 19, 2009