libertine

[ lib-er-teen, -tin ]
See synonyms for libertine on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a person who is morally or sexually unrestrained, especially a dissolute man; a profligate; rake.

  2. a freethinker in religious matters.

  1. a person freed from slavery in ancient Rome.

adjective
  1. free of moral, especially sexual, restraint; dissolute; licentious.

  2. freethinking in religious matters.

  1. Archaic. unrestrained; uncontrolled.

Origin of libertine

1
1350–1400; Middle English libertyn<Latin lībertīnus of a freedman (adj.), freedman (noun), equivalent to lībert(us) freedman (apparently by reanalysis of liber-tāsliberty as libert-ās) + -īnus-ine1

Other words for libertine

Opposites for libertine

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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use libertine in a sentence

  • The young scholar always allows himself a number of libertine sonnets, and we avow it is particularly disagreeable to us.

    Charles Baudelaire, His Life | Thophile Gautier
  • I doubt it, sire, and I advise you to send away this libertine St. Luc, who is resolved not to amend.

    Chicot the Jester | Alexandre Dumas, Pere
  • He knew absolutely nothing about her except the story she told of childish innocence and the whims of a selfish libertine.

    The Woman Gives | Owen Johnson
  • Thus, under a libertine prince, the destinies of France were at the mercy of a valet de chambre.

    Memoirs of the Comtesse du Barry | Etienne Leon Lamothe-Langon
  • A man whos got a code of morals is moral, whether hes a libertine, a horse thief or—a minister.

    The Wasted Generation | Owen Johnson

British Dictionary definitions for libertine

libertine

/ (ˈlɪbəˌtiːn, -ˌtaɪn) /


noun
  1. a morally dissolute person

adjective
  1. morally dissolute

Origin of libertine

1
C14 (in the sense: freedman, dissolute person): from Latin lībertīnus freedman, from lībertus freed, from līber free

Derived forms of libertine

  • libertinage or libertinism, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012