fescennine

[ fes-uh-nahyn, -nin ]

adjective
  1. scurrilous; licentious; obscene: fescennine mockery.

Origin of fescennine

1
1595–1605; <Latin Fescennīnus of, belonging to Fescennia, a town in Etruria noted for jesting and scurrilous verse; see -ine1

Words Nearby fescennine

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

How to use fescennine in a sentence

  • The principal constituent element in this fescennine poetry was obscene mockery.

  • But just as it takes two to make a quarrel, so the obscene mockery of the fescennine verses required two principals.

  • fescennine verses of the Romans, which were used at weddings and triumphs, were intended to ward off ill luck.

    Folkways | William Graham Sumner
  • The original fescennine verse appears, from the testimony of Horace, to have been in metrical dialogue.

    The Roman Poets of the Republic | William Young Sellar
  • The fescennine raillery long retained traces of this original character.

    The Roman Poets of the Republic | William Young Sellar

British Dictionary definitions for Fescennine

Fescennine

/ (ˈfɛsɪˌnaɪn) /


adjective
  1. rare scurrilous or obscene

Origin of Fescennine

1
C17: from Latin Fescennīnus of Fescennia, a city in Etruria noted for the production of mocking or obscene verse

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