bestiality
Americannoun
plural
bestialities-
brutish or beastly character or behavior; beastliness.
-
indulgence in beastlike appetites, instincts, impulses, etc.
-
an instance of bestial character or behavior.
-
sexual relations between a person and an animal; sodomy.
noun
-
bestial behaviour, character, or action
-
sexual activity between a person and an animal
Etymology
Origin of bestiality
1350–1400; Middle English bestial ( i ) te (< Anglo-French, Middle French ) < Medieval Latin bēstiālitās. See bestial, -ity
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.
Hence war, hence adultery, hence bestiality, Tim continues.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 5, 2026
“Elite panic” is the sociological term for it, when wealthy people are convinced that the peasants will dissolve into bestiality and preemptively start shooting anyone who wanders into their neighborhoods during a crisis.
From Slate • Oct. 13, 2020
In 2012, Holst became the chair of Denmark’s Animal Ethics Council, which advises the government on issues such as cloning, bestiality, and ritual slaughter.
From The New Yorker • Jan. 8, 2017
The Greek authorities banned Katidis from playing in national teams for life while condemning him for insulting "the victims of Nazi bestiality" and "injuring the deeply pacifist and human character of the game".
From The Guardian • Apr. 1, 2013
We are marked with the mark of the beast, the taint of the belly, the inexhaustible source of bestiality.
From Social Life in the Insect World by Miall, Bernard
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.
