OBSCENITY

Obscenity

An obscenity is any statement or act which strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin obscaena a cognate of the Ancient Greek root skene, because some potentially offensive content, such as murder or sex, was depicted offstage in classical drama. The word can be used to indicate a strong moral repugnance, in expressions such as "obscene profits" or "the obscenity of war".

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obscenity

Noun

  1. Something that is obscene.
    Martha wouldn't go into the art museum because, as she put it, "They have obscenities just sitting out, on display!"
  2. An act of obscene behaviour.
    Bestiality was outlawed as an obscenity in the strongly conservative community.
  3. Specifically, an offensive word; a profanity; a dirty word.
    Eliza couldn't stand her daughter's music; as she saw it, it was just shouted obscenities and a heavy drum beat.
  4. The qualities that make something obscene; lewdness, indecency, or offensive behaviour.
    The coalition of religious conservatives was campaigning against, in their view, rampant obscenity in the entertainment industry.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: obscenity
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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