incest

[in-sest]

noun

1. sexual intercourse between closely related persons.

2. the crime of sexual intercourse, cohabitation, or marriage between persons within the degrees of consanguinity or affinity wherein marriage is legally forbidden.

incest

/ ˈɪnsɛst /

noun

1. sexual intercourse between two persons commonly regarded as too closely related to marry

incest

1. Sexual relations between relatives who are forbidden by law to marry; for example, between father and daughter or mother and son.

Though each society has its own system for determining the range of people who fall into this category, every society has an incest taboo of some sort.

Word History and Origins

Origin of incest¹

1175–1225; Middle English < Latin incestus (noun) sexual impurity, derivative of incestus (adj.) profane, sexually impure ( in- in- ³ + -cestus combining form of castus chaste ), by analogy with v. nouns derived with -tus

Word History and Origins

Origin of incest¹

C13: from Latin incestus incest (from adj: impure, defiled), from _in- ¹ + castus _chaste

Example Sentences

Caroline recalled how, up on the stand, Gisèle refused to address the accusations of incest against her husband.

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Rewatching “American Pie” or “Eurotrip” now, you cannot ignore the absurd pornographic tropes, from naked women being watched without their knowledge to sibling incest.

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It’s nauseating, but nothing compared to the far more graphic and intentionally titillating incest we watched in the third season of “The White Lotus.”

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In ‘Absalom, Absalom,’ incest is less of a taboo for an upper-class Southern family than acknowledging the one drop of black blood that would clearly soil the family line.

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“I’ve received so many testimonials from other women but also teenagers because of incest, when drugs are often used.”

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