obscenity
obscenity
Definition
ob·scen·ity (äb sen′ə tē, əb-; also, chiefly Brit, -sēn′-)
noun
- the state or quality of being obscene
- pl. obscenities -·ties an obscene remark, act, event, etc.
Etymology: Fr obscénité < L obscenitas
obscenity
Synonyms
obscenity
n.
The state or quality of being obscene
salacity, vulgarity, scurrility; see lewdness.That which is obscene
vulgarity, impropriety, smut; see curse 1, indecency 2, pornography.
obscenity
Law Definition
See
obscene material.
obscenity
Usage Examples
Converse of object
- mutter: The big man was still alive, curled into a tight ball. Get up. J.J. muttered an obscenity.
Adjective modifier
- general: However, in the milieu of general obscenity it passes as harmless parlance.
- so-called: The objection to Husain is not the so-called obscenity of his paintings.
- ultimate: War is the ultimate in criminality, the ultimate obscenity, the ultimate crime against humanity.
- moral: That people are compelled to divert resources in this way is surely a moral obscenity.
- only: The only obscenity is something called British Justice An important avenue of porn distribution in the UK is via mail order.
Modifies a noun
- law: The tourist could now face up to three months in jail under India's obscenity laws.
- charge: The latter publication, which Barker co-edited, delivered him trembling to the dock of the Old Bailey on an obscenity charge in 1973.
- case: Maxwell was a prosecution witness in the obscenity case brought against the American novel Last Exit to Brooklyn in 1966.
- prosecution: The satisfyingly late Mary Whitehouse failed in her attempt to bring an obscenity prosecution against the play's original director, Michael Bogdanov.
Preposition: of
- war: This comparison is a powerful illustration of the obscenity of war.
obscenity Quotes
An obscenity, a depraved act by weak and miserable men, including all of us, who haveallowed ittogo onand on with endless fury.
Obscenity is a cleansing process, whereas pornography only adds to the murk.
Obscenity is what happens to shock some elderlyand ignorant magistrate.
Sex and obscenityare not synonymous.
Browse dictionary entries near obscenity
- obscenities
- obscenely
- obscene material
- obscene
- obs
- OBRA 93
- obovoid
- obovate
- obolus
- oboli
- obscurant
- obscurantic
- obscurantism
- obscurantist
- obscuration
- obscure
- obscured
- obscurely
- obscureness
- obscuring
