Promiscuous Meaning
/pɹəˈmɪs.kju.əs/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjMade up of various disparate elements mixed together; of disorderly composition.
adjMade without careful choice; indiscriminate.
Sentence Examples
Aren't people who have promiscuous sex afraid of VDs like AIDS?
Mary is a promiscuous woman.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The research showed that the mating behavior of the birds was not ____; they only had one partner.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The study examined attitudes toward ____ behavior and how they varied across different cultures.
Word Origin & History
From Latin prōmiscuus (“mixed, not separated”), from prō (“forth”) + misceō (“mix”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Came singly where he stood on the bare strand, / While the promiscuous croud stood yet aloof."
— 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 379-80:
"[T]hey had both been educated [...] on plans at once narrow and promiscuous, first in an English family and afterwards in a Swiss family at Lausanne, their bachelor uncle and guardian trying in this way to remedy the disadvantages of their orphaned condition."
— 1871, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter I, in Middlemarch […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book I, page 4:
"X spreads false rumours to third parties about X’s spouse being promiscuous. X’s spouse finds out about the rumours and is distressed. X has committed emotional or psychological abuse against X’s spouse."
— 2023, Parliament of Singapore, “Women’s Charter (Family Violence and Other Matters) (Amendment) Bill”, in Republic of Singapore Government Gazette^(https://www.parliament.gov.sg/docs/default-source/default-document-library/women's-charter-(family-violence-and-other-matters)(amendment)-bill-18-2023.pdf), page 5:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The research showed that the mating behavior of the birds was not ____; they only had one partner.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The study examined attitudes toward ____ behavior and how they varied across different cultures.