obscenity

CEFRC1

/əˈbsɛnɪti/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    Something offensive because it is sexually rude or shocking.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    An act of obscene behaviour.

Examples

  • Obscenity is whatever happens to shock some elderly and ignorant magistrate.

  • Bestiality was outlawed as an obscenity in the strongly conservative community.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
4

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. Specifically, an offensive word; a profanity; a dirty word.

  2. Something that is obscene.

  3. Lewdness, indecency, or offensive behaviour or material.

More examples

In context

  • Eliza couldn't stand her daughter's music; as she saw it, it was just shouted obscenities and a heavy drum beat.

  • Martha wouldn't go into the art museum because, as she put it, "They have obscenities just sitting out, on display!"

  • That is an obscenity!

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The broadcaster was fined for airing material that contained blank, upsetting viewers.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From obscene + -ity, from Latin obscenitas.