indecent

[in-dee-suhnt]

adjective

1. offending against generally accepted standards of propriety or good taste; improper; vulgar.

   indecent jokes; indecent language; indecent behavior.

   Synonyms: licentious, lewd, filthy, obscene, gross, rude, outrageous, coarse, indelicate, indecorous, immodest, distasteful

2. not decent; unbecoming or unseemly.

   indecent haste.

   Synonyms: inappropriate
   Antonyms: becoming, appropriate

indecent

/ ɪnˈdiːsənt /

adjective

1. offensive to standards of decency, esp in sexual matters

2. unseemly or improper (esp in the phrase indecent haste )

Other Word Forms

• indecently adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of indecent¹

First recorded in 1555–65; from Latin indecent- (stem of indecēns ) “unseemly.” See in- ³, decent

Synonym Study

See improper.

Example Sentences

Law enforcement determined there wasn’t indecent exposure since the dolls’ bodies lacked certain parts, but organizers put shirts on them for good measure.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Officers also found he had made two category C indecent images of children.

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Pierce went on to become a bishop himself - but in March admitted five charges of indecent assault against a boy under the age of 16 between 1985 and 1990.

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But there’s always a less indecent, a less callous, a less ugly way.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

According to Essex University's Prof Lorna Woods, the lowest level of views that can be prosecuted in British criminal law are those deemed "grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character".

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• filthy 
• immoral 
• improper 
• lewd 
• obscene 
• off-color 
• outrageous 
• ridiculous 
• salacious 
• shocking 
• tasteless 
• unbecoming 
• unseemly 
• vile