Obscene

Definition: Obscene

Obscene

Adjective

1. Designed to incite to indecency or lust; "the dance often becomes flagrantly obscene"- Margaret Mead.

2. Offensive to the mind; "an abhorrent deed"; "the obscene massacre at Wounded Knee"; "morally repugnant customs"; "repulsive behavior"; "the most repulsive character in recent novels".

3. Suggestive of or tending to moral looseness; "lewd whisperings of a dirty old man"; "an indecent gesture"; "obscene telephone calls"; "salacious limericks".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "obscene" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)

Synonyms: Obscene

Impurity

Adjective: impure; unclean; (dirty); not to be mentioned to ears polite; immodest, shameless; indecorous, indelicate, indecent; Fescennine; loose, risque, coarse, gross, broad, free, equivocal, smutty, fulsome, ribald, obscene, bawdy, pornographic.

Neologism

Vulgar language, obscene language, obscenity, vulgarity.

Crosswords: Obscene

If our lord wasn't testing us, how would you account for the proliferation, these days, of this obscene rock and roll music, with its gospel of easy sexuality and relaxed morality (Footloose; writing credit: Dean Pitchford)

That is, no obscene calls (Carpool; writing credit: Don Rhymer)

The robot was gross and obscene. (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer)

Just how obscene an amount of cash are we talking about here (Pretty Woman; writing credit: J.F. Lawton)

He's licking the glass and making obscene gestures with his hands (Ferris Bueller's Day Off; writing credit: John Hughes)

From all of the obscene (Blurry; performing artist: Puddle Of Mudd)

Obscene House (1969)

Escape Imprisonment 5: Obscene Flesh Hunt (1995)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• 500 Years of Obscene...and Counting (reference)

• European Poems and Transitions: Over All the Obscene Boundaries (reference)

• Obscene Bodies: A Novel (reference)

• Obscene Things: Sexual Politics in Jin Ping Mei (reference)

• The Obscene Bird of Night (Verba Mundi) (reference)

  (more book examples)

Music

• Serpent Obscene (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Convention of May 4, 1910, regarding the suppression of obscene publications. (reference)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Meanwhile, the drinkers were singing an obscene song, at which they laughed enough to shake the room

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Civil Liberties

Pakistan

Obscene literature, a category broadly defined by the Government, is subject to seizure. (references)

Ireland

The board can prohibit the sale of any publication that it judges to be indecent or obscene. (references)

Bangladesh

Censorship most often is used in cases of immodest or obscene photographs, perceived misrepresentation or defamation of Islam, and objectionable comments about national leaders. (references)

Economic History

Denmark

For example, while nudity per se is not considered obscene and is seen in some Danish advertising, TV commercials for alcoholic beverages, tobacco and medicine are not allowed. (references)

Human Rights

Kuwait

In March a private citizen brought a criminal court case against a writer for publishing obscene materials during the year. (references)

Italy

During the March Global Forum demonstrations, detainees alleged that they were forced to kneel on the floor of police stations for lengthy periods of time, and were subjected to random and deliberate beatings with truncheons, as well as slaps, kicks, punches, and other verbal insults frequently of an obscene, sexual nature. (references)

Trade

Bangladesh

In addition, imported goods should not bear any obscene pictures, writing, inscription, or visible representation. (references)

Japan

Japan strictly prohibits entry of narcotics and related utensils, firearms, firearm parts and ammunition, counterfeit or imitation money, obscene materials, or goods that violate intellectual property rights. (references)

El Salvador

B. Figures, statues, books, booklets, almanacs, magazines, engraved or lithographed articles, newspapers, lithographs, stamps, photographs, and cards of an obscene nature or any other obscene articles (including common magazines such as Playboy). (references)

Travel

Sri Lanka

CUSTOMS REGULATIONS: Sri Lankan customs authorities may enforce strict regulations concerning temporary importation into or export from Sri Lanka of items such as firearms, antiquities, business equipment, obscene materials, currency, gems and precious metals. (references)

Women

Kiribati

Obscene or indecent behavior is banned. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Expressions using "obscene": obscene books ♦ obscene language ♦ obscene libel ♦ obscene talker ♦ obscene writer. Additional references.

Ending with "obscene": well-obscene.

Albanian

i turpshëm (bashful, censurable, coy, disgraceful, dishonorable, dishonourable, foul, humiliating, ignominious, ill at ease, indecent, infamous, inglorious, lewd, opprobrious, reserved, scandalous, self conscious, shamefaced, shameful, sheepish, shy, timid, unhallowed, vile, villainous), i pahijshëm (bad, dirty, fie-fie, graceless, improper, indecent, indecorous, unbecoming, unchristian, unseemly, wry). (various references)

Arabic 

‏فاحش (bawdy, dirty, filthy, ribald, shameless, vulgar), ‏فاسق (bawdy, debauched, degraded, dissipated, dissolute, don juan, fornicator, immoral, lascivious, lecherous, lewd, libertine, licentious, light, lubricious, miscreant, philanderer, profligate, punk, raffish, rakish, scab, scarlet, slippery, unchaste, uninhibited, wanton), ‏فاجر (bawdy, dissipated, dissolute, lecher, libertine, licentious, obscenity, profligate, rake, rakish, wanton), ‏قذر (augean, beastly, contaminated, crummy, defiled, dingy, dirt, dirty, disreputable, dungy, filthy, foul, ghoulish, grimy, grubby, impure, lousy, mean, mucky, muddy, nasty, pig, piggish, polluted, rubbishy, sinful, slattern, slatternly, slob, sloppy, slovenly, smutty, soil, sordid, squalid, unclean, uncleanly, untidy, verminous, vile), ‏داعر (bawdy, lascivious, lecherous, lewd, libidinous, light, mean, naughty, obscenity, pornographic, raffish, salacious, scarlet, sensual, wanton). (various references)

Bulgarian 

сквернословен, скверен (profane, prurient), крайно неприличен, гнусен (abhorrent, heinous, loathsome, ugly, vile), гаден (abominable, creepy, filthy, loathsome, nameless, nasty, nauseous, noisome, revolting, scarlet, sickly, slimy, sordid, stinking, unsavory, unsavoury, unwholesome, vile, villainous, yukky), нецензурен (dirty, fie-fie, hot, lewd, raunchy, raw, ribald, rich, ripe, smoking room, unquotable), мръсен (bawdy, currish, dingy, dirt, dirty, filthy, foul, frowzy, greasy, grimy, hoggish, impure, messy, mucky, muddy, nasty, piggish, raunchy, ruddy, salacious, sleazy, sordid, squalid, unclean, unwashed, vile), порнографски (filthy, libidinous, pornographic, salacious, sexy), покварен (corrupt, depraved, gamy, godforsaken, graceless, peccant, scrofulous, vicious, wanton). (various references)

Chinese 

淫秽, 淫 (excessive, kinky, lewd, wanton). (various references)

Czech

oplzlý (bawdy, dirty, gross, impure, lewd, salacious, scurrilous, uncouth, vile), obscénní, sprostý (crude, dirty, dunghill, foul, foul-mouthed, gross, indecent, larrikin, mean, nasty, plebeian, poor, rowdy, scurrilous, squalid, vulgar), neslušný (discourteous, immodest, impolite, improper, indecent, indecorous, indelicate, lewd, misbecoming, rude, unbecoming, uncivil, uncouth, unpresentable, unseemly, unsuitable), nemravný (dissolute, immoral, indecent, vicious, wanton). (various references)

Dutch

schunnig (abject, base, dismal, low, meager, miserable, nasty, vile, wretched), schuin (oblique, slanting, sloping), obsceen. (various references)

Esperanto

obscena. (various references)

Faeroese

óráðuligur, ónæriligur. (various references)

Finnish

siveetön (immoral, unchaste), ruokoton (filthy, improper, untidy), rivo (indecent, lewd), rietas (impure, indecent, lewd). (various references)

French

obscène. (various references)

German

obszön (obscenely), unzüchtig (bawdily, bawdy, indecent, lecherous, lewd, licentious, licentiously, unchaste). (various references)

Greek 

άσεμνοσ (immodest, immoral, indecent, indecorous, racy, unchaste), άσεμνος, αισχρόσ (bawdy, disgraceful, ignominious, nefarious, outrageous, salacious, shameful, shocking, smutty, wicked), αισχρός (gross, ribald, vicious), ανήθικοσ (bawdy, immoral, nonmoral, profligate). (various references)

Hebrew 

מ�'ו� �" (disgraceful, foul, fulsome, improper, indecent, obnoxious, odious, opprobrious, shameful), של � בול פ�" (bawdy, salacious). (various references)

Hungarian

obszcén (bawdy, ribald, scurrilous), trágár (bawdy, dirty, gross, impious, indecent, nasty, pornographic, ribald, scurrilous, smutty, swinish). (various references)

Indonesian

tidak senonoh (improper), mesum (bawdy, dirty, immoral, indecent), carut, cabul (indecent, lewd, pornographic). (various references)

Italian

osceno (awful, bawdy, blue, coarse, dreadful, filthy, foul, ghastly, lewd, nasty, rude). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

鄙猥 (indecent), 猥りがわしい (morally corrupt, slovenly), 淫猥 (obscenity), 濫りがわしい (morally corrupt, slovenly), 卑猥 . (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

ひわい (indecent), い�"わい (obscenity), み� りがわしい (morally corrupt, slovenly). (various references)

Manx

awane (foul, immodest, unchaste). (various references)

Pig Latin

obsceneay.(various references)

Portuguese

obsceno (bawdry, dirty, filthy, immodest, impure, indecent, ribald, scabrous, unclean). (various references)

Romanian

obscen (bawdy, dirty, filthy, foul, foul-mouthed, indelicate, lewd, lickerish, nasty, obscenely, ribald, scurrilous, smutty), respingãtor (abhorrent, awful, awfully, disagreeable, dreadful, dreadfully, forbidding, foul, fulsome, hideous, infamous, obnoxious, odious, odiousness, offensive, pestilent, rebarbative, repellent, repulsive, repulsively, scurvy, unprepossessing, verminous), fãrã ruşine (obscenely), fãrã perdea, dezgustãtor (abominable, disgusting, fulsome, loathsome, loathsomely, nasty, nauseous, odious, odiously, offensive, repugnant, repulsive, scurvy, sickening, unsavory, unsavoury, vile). (various references)

Russian 

непристойный (bawdy, beastly, coarse, dirty, disorderly, greasy, nasty, pawpaw, ribald, salacious, salty, scurrilous, smutty, unchaste, uncomely, unseemly). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

opscen, odvratan (abhorrent, abominable, accursed, accurst, beastly, brackish, disgustful, disgusting, execrable, hideous, loathsome, mucky, nasty, nauseating, obnoxious, odious, repellent, repugnant, repulsive, revolting, sickening, snotty, sordid, uncongenial, unlovely, vile), sramotan (disgraceful, ignominious, infamous, inglorious, opprobrious, scandalous, shameful), razvratan (abandoned, cypriote, debauched, lecherous, lewd, libidinous, perverse, wild), bestidan (arrant, barefaced, bold, impudent, shameless, unashamed, unblushing). (various references)

Spanish

obsceno (bawdy, dirty, lewd, nasty, ribald, smutty). (various references)

Swedish

oanständig (bawdy, fie-fie, filthy, foul, immodest, improper, indecent, lewd, salacious, scabrous, scurrilous). (various references)

Thai

น่ารังเกียจ (clingin, foul, hateable, icky-poo, loathsome, lousy, noisome, obnoxious, odious, putrid), ลามก (dirty, randy, risque). (various references)

Turkish

pis (augean, black, dingy, dirty, dungy, effing, filthy, foul, frowzy, goatish, grimy, grubby, impure, mangy, messy, miasmal, miasmatic, miry, mucky, nasty, obnoxious, offensive, scruffy, scummy, slimy, sordid, squalid, unclean, uncleanly), müstehcen (bawdy, blue, dirty, filthy, gross, hard core, kinky, loathsome, nasty, off color, off colour, pornographic, racy, raw, ribald, ripe, risky, risque, rough, salacious, shocking, smutty, suggestive, unprintable), ağıza alınmaz, açık saçık (bawdy, blue, dirty, disorderly, feelthy, filthy, foul, girlie, hard core, immodest, immodestly dressed, improper, indecent, lewd, off color, off colour, pornographic, racy, raw, ripe, risky, risque, rough, salacious, salty, scabrous, shocking, smutty, spicy). (various references)

Ukrainian

огидний (abhorrent, abject, abominable, accursed, accurst, antipathetic, antipathetical, atrocious, beastly, bilious, brackish, brutal, carrion, damnable, damned, detestable, disgusting, dreadful, evil, execrable, filthy, ghoulish, grim, hanging, heinous, hideous, horrible, horrid, ill-favored, ill-favoured, loathful, loathsome, mawkish, mucky, nasty, nauseating, nauseous, nefandous, noisome, obnoxious, odious, offensive, pesky, poisonous, putrid, rank, repellent, repulsive, revolting, shocking, snotty, sordid, sour, stinking, underfoot, wicked), образливий (abusive, affronting, affrontive, contumelious, humiliating, injurious, insulting, mortifying, obloquious, offending, offensive, opprobrious, ornery, outrageous, pettish, resentful, slanderous, touchy, umbrageous), непристойний (bad, bawdy, beastly, blue, coarse, dirty, fie-fie, foul, graceless, greasy, immodest, improper, impure, indecent, lewd, nasty, nubbly, off color, off colour, paw-paw, ribald, salacious, salt, scabrous, scurrilous, shameless, smutty, sultry, unbecoming, unchaste), неподобний, брудний (bawdy, beastly, black, chatty, dirty, dungy, filthy, foul, greasy, grimy, hoggish, lousy, mangy, messy, miry, mucky, muddy, nasty, puddly, sludgy, smeary, smudgy, smutty, sordid, sozzly, unclean), безсоромний (barefaced, bestial, cynical, graceless, impudent, shameless, unabashed, unblushing), паскудний (abject, bawdy, cheesy, nasty, scald, trashy, vile). (various references)

Vietnamese 

tục tĩu (coarse, foul, gross, grossly, naughty, ribald, salacious, scurrilous), t� dâm, ghê gớm (burning, desperate, fearful, formidable, gruesome, mortally, plaguy, precious, preciously, terrible, thundering, tremendous, woefully). (various references)

Welsh

serth (abrupt, precipitous, steep). (various references)

foedam, foede, foedum, foedus, obscenus. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "obscene": obscenely, obscener, obscenest. (additional references)

Words ending with "obscene": nonobscene. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Obscene" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Agscene, Bochenek, Boscarne, boscean, Boscuen, Bosschen, obcene, Obecni, obscane, obsence, obsene, obstene. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-2 letters: benes, bones, cense, cones, ebons, obese, onces, scene, scone.

-3 letters: been, bees, bene, bens, bone, cees, cobs, cone, cons, ebon, eons, nebs, nobs, noes, nose, obes, once, ones, seen, sene, snob, sone.

-4 letters: bee, ben, bos, cee, cob, con, cos, ens, eon, neb, nee, nob, nos, obe, oes, one, ons, ose, sec, see.

+1 letter: obscener.

+2 letters: beckoners, cabezones, cenobites, obeisance, obscenely, obscenest.

+3 letters: biocenoses, bioscience, cheekbones, coenobites, econoboxes, nonobscene, obediences, obeisances, observance, recombines.

+4 letters: abhorrences, arborescent, baronetcies, benefactors, benzocaines, biocoenoses, biosciences, bottlenecks, cobblestone, compensable, condensable, condensible, confessable, contestable, conversable, cuttlebones, obscenities, obscureness, observances, obsolescent, probenecids, reprobances, shacklebone, workbenches.

+5 letters: absorbencies, arborescence, bedcoverings, benedictions, benefactions, benevolences, biomedicines, celebrations, centerboards, cerebrations, cobblestoned, cobblestones, considerable, convertibles, debouchments, decarbonates, decarbonizes, disobedience, exorbitances, forbearances, forcibleness, honeybunches, inobservance, knucklebones, obsolescence, overbalances, ribonuclease, shacklebones, sociableness, subeconomies, subpotencies, technophobes.