adjective
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relating to or involving incest
an incestuous union
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guilty of incest
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obsolete resulting from incest
an incestuous bastard
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resembling incest in excessive or claustrophobic intimacy
Other Word Forms
- incestuously adverb
- incestuousness noun
- nonincestuous adjective
- nonincestuously adverb
- nonincestuousness noun
- unincestuous adjective
- unincestuously adverb
Etymology
Origin of incestuous
1525–35; < Late Latin incestuōsus, equivalent to Latin incestu- stem of incestus incest + -ōsus -ous
Vocabulary lists containing incestuous
Novel Study: Hamlet, Acts 1–2
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"The Tragedy of Hamlet," Vocabulary from Act 1
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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.
Some theorize this incestuous recursion could be the beginning of the end for generative AI.
From Salon • Aug. 29, 2023
Previous studies of ancient DNA obtained from Tut and several other members of the royal family revealed clues to his incestuous lineage.
From Scientific American • Nov. 4, 2022
She alluded to the incestuous nature of Olympic organizational bodies.
From Washington Post • Feb. 11, 2022
In Johnson’s quirkily associative mind, the connection to the self-blinding, incestuous King Oedipus would have been as clear as a bell.
From New York Times • Mar. 23, 2021
Because Wayna Qhapaq had not actually married Washkar’s mother—the union was properly incestuous but not properly legitimate—the new Inka demanded that his mother participate ex post facto in a wedding ceremony with his father’s mummy.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
