obscene


Also found in: Thesaurus, Legal, Acronyms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

ob·scene

 (ŏb-sēn′, əb-)
adj.
1.
a. Offensive to accepted standards of decency.
b. Law Of or relating to materials that can be regulated or criminalized because their depiction of nudity, sex, or excretion is patently offensive and without artistic or scientific value.
2.
a. Morally repulsive; disgusting: "The way he writes about the disease that killed her is simply obscene" (Michael Korda).
b. So extreme in amount as to be objectionable or outrageous: "hammered by stratospheric rents and obscene taxes" (Joe Queenan).

[Latin obscēnus.]

ob·scene′ly adv.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

obscene

(əbˈsiːn)
adj
1. offensive or outrageous to accepted standards of decency or modesty
2. (Law) law (of publications) having a tendency to deprave or corrupt
3. disgusting; repellent: an obscene massacre.
[C16: from Latin obscēnus inauspicious, perhaps related to caenum filth]
obˈscenely adv
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ob•scene

(əbˈsin)

adj.
1. offensive to morality or decency; indecent: obscene language.
2. intended to stimulate sexual appetite or lust; lewd: obscene movies.
3. abominable; disgusting; repulsive.
[1585–95; < Latin obscēnus]
ob•scene′ly, adv.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adj.1.obscene - designed to incite to indecency or lust; "the dance often becomes flagrantly obscene"-Margaret Mead
indecent - offensive to good taste especially in sexual matters; "an earthy but not indecent story"; "an indecent gesture"
2.obscene - 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"
offensive - unpleasant or disgusting especially to the senses; "offensive odors"
3.obscene - suggestive of or tending to moral looseness; "lewd whisperings of a dirty old man"; "an indecent gesture"; "obscene telephone calls"; "salacious limericks"
dirty - (of behavior or especially language) characterized by obscenity or indecency; "dirty words"; "a dirty old man"; "dirty books and movies"; "boys telling dirty jokes"; "has a dirty mouth"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

obscene

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

obscene

adjective
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
خَلاعي، فاحِشفَاحِشٌ
obscénní
modbydeligsjofel
rivo
opscen
klámfenginn
猥褻な
음탕한
nešvankiainešvankybė
nepieklājīgs, piedauzīgs
oanständig
ลามก
tục tĩu

obscene

[əbˈsiːn]
A. ADJ
1. (= indecent) [gesture, language, remark] → obsceno, soez; [phone call, act] → obsceno, indecente
2. (= shocking) [profit, salary] → escandaloso
B. CPD obscene publication N (Jur) → publicación f pornográfica
Obscene Publications Act N (Brit) (Jur) → ley f de las publicaciones pornográficas
Obscene Publications Squad N (Brit) → brigada f en contra de las publicaciones pornográficas
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

obscene

[əbˈsiːn] adj
[language, photo, phone call] → obscène
(= illegal) → obscène
(= shocking) → indécent(e)
It was obscene to spend millions producing unwanted food → C'était indécent de dépenser des millions pour produire des aliments dont nul ne voulait.
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

obscene

adjobszön; word, picture, book alsounzüchtig; language, joke alsozotig; gesture, posture, thought alsoschamlos, unzüchtig; (non-sexually: = repulsive) → ekelerregend; prices, demandsunverschämt; obscene publicationVeröffentlichung fmit pornografischem Inhalt; Obscene Publications Act (Brit) Gesetz über die Veröffentlichung pornografischen Materials; this colour scheme is positively obscenediese Farbzusammenstellung widert einen an or ist widerlich
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

obscene

[əbˈsiːn] adjosceno/a
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

obscene

(əbˈsiːn) adjective
disgusting, especially sexually. obscene photographs.
obˈscenely adverb
obscenity (-ˈse-) plural obˈscenities noun
an obscene act or word(s). He shouted obscenities at the police.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.

obscene

فَاحِشٌ obscénní sjofel obszön άσεμνος obsceno rivo obscène opscen osceno 猥褻な 음탕한 obsceen uanstendig nieprzyzwoity obsceno непристойный oanständig ลามก açık saçık tục tĩu 淫秽的
Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009
References in classic literature ?
Worms of the riper grave unhid By any kindly coffin lid, Obscene and shameless to the light, Seethe in insatiate appetite, Through putrid offal; while above The hissing blow-fly seeks his love, Whose offspring, supping where they supt, Consume corruption twice corrupt.
Since we forbid his speaking everything which is forbidden, it is necessary that he neither sees obscene stories nor pictures; the magistrates therefore are to take care that there are no statues or pictures of anything of this nature, except only to those gods to whom the law permits them, and to which the law allows persons of a certain age to pay their devotions, for themselves, their wives, and children.
They danced about it with gestures grotesque and attitudes obscene and indescribable.
So no one vexed him as he trotted through the winding pathways between the many houses and past the obscene kingposts of totemic heraldry, where the forms of men, carved from single tree trunks, were seated in the gaping jaws of carved sharks.
namely, of example, of bad company, obscene language, and the like.
"Read it yourself and show me whatever strikes you as obscene - that was the word, wasn't it?"
It was all very indistinct: the heavy smell, the big unmeaning shapes, the obscene figures lurking in the shadows, and only waiting for the darkness to come at me again!
She looks at everything, goes everywhere, passes her way, with her clear quiet eyes wide open; skirting the edge of obscene abysses without suspecting them; pushing through brambles without tearing her robe; exciting, without knowing it, the most injurious suspicions; and always holding her course, passionless, stainless, fearless, charmless!
It was the largest house in the village, ambitiously ornamented with fancy-plaited mats and king-posts carved into obscene and monstrous forms half-human and half-animal.
They seized one another by the garments, the hair, the beard--fought like animals, cursed, shouted, called one another opprobrious and obscene names.
The whole formed such a contrast to themselves, as they lay wallowing, like some obscene animals, in their squalor and wickedness on the two heaps of straw, that for a few moments they looked on without speaking, and felt almost ashamed.
Abhorred and despised by even the few who are cognisant of its miserable and disgraceful existence, stifled by the very filth it so profusely scatters, rendered deaf and blind by the exhalations of its own slime, the obscene journal, happily unconscious of its degraded state, is rapidly sinking beneath that treacherous mud which, while it seems to give it a firm standing with the low and debased classes of society, is nevertheless rising above its detested head, and will speedily engulf it for ever.'