lascivious
Americanadjective
-
inclined to lustfulness; wanton; lewd.
a lascivious, girl-chasing old man.
-
arousing sexual desire.
lascivious photographs.
-
indicating sexual interest or expressive of lust or lewdness.
a lascivious gesture.
adjective
-
lustful; lecherous
-
exciting sexual desire
Other Word Forms
- lasciviously adverb
- lasciviousness noun
- overlascivious adjective
- overlasciviously adverb
Etymology
Origin of lascivious
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin lascīvi(a) “playfulness, wantonness” ( lascīv(us) “playful, wanton” + -ia noun suffix) + -ous; -ia
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But it strikes a false and pandering note, since Tartuffe, as in Molière, has been plainly exposed as an opportunistic, lascivious fraud—and the only one in the play.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 17, 2025
Forty years after his death, Truman Capote continues to draw audiences in for another lascivious story and another dramatic portrayal in ‘Feud: Capote vs. the Swans.’
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 12, 2024
The Comstock Act, championed by anti-vice crusader Anthony Comstock and passed in 1873, made it a federal crime to send or receive any material deemed "obscene, lewd or lascivious".
From BBC • Mar. 25, 2024
Aside from Wenner’s lascivious, hedonist lifestyle; “Sticky Fingers” shows how rock stars could be elevated or ignored by Rolling Stone because of Wenner’ grudges, jealousies, personal preferences and obsessions.
From New York Times • Nov. 27, 2017
And a Florentine, whatever he does,—be it virtuous or sinful, chaste or lascivious, severe or extravagant,—does it with a grace.
From Ariadne Florentina Six Lectures on Wood and Metal Engraving by Ruskin, John
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
