incontinent
[in-kon-tn-uh nt]
- unable to restrain natural discharges or evacuations of urine or feces.
- unable to contain or retain (usually followed by of): incontinent of temper.
- lacking in moderation or self-control, especially of sexual desire.
- unceasing or unrestrained: an incontinent flow of talk.
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Origin of incontinent
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for incontinent
Contemporary Examples
What followed for eight years could have been more accurately called “Incontinent conservatism.”
Historical Examples
For with the incontinent man it is not as with the self-seeker and the covetous.
The MemorabiliaXenophon
It is the incontinent who have neither part nor lot in any one of them.
The MemorabiliaXenophon
It would seem you are decidedly of opinion that the incontinent are the reverse of free?
The MemorabiliaXenophon
Incontinent the kyng commaunded to take and put hym to dethe.
Shakespeare Jest-Books;Unknown
His words were overheard of sundry Trevisans, who asked him incontinent, 'How!
The Decameron of Giovanni BoccaccioGiovanni Boccaccio
incontinent1
- lacking in restraint or control, esp sexually
- relating to or exhibiting involuntary urination or defecation
- (foll by of) having little or no control (over)
- unrestrained; uncontrolled
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Word Origin
C14: from Old French, from Latin incontinens, from in- 1 + continere to hold, restrain
incontinent2
incontinently
- obsolete words for immediately
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Word Origin
C15: from Late Latin in continentī tempore, literally: in continuous time, that is, with no interval
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for incontinent
adj.
late 14c., "wanting in self restraint," from Old French incontinent, from Latin incontinentem (nominative incontinens) "incontinent, immoderate, intemperate," from in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + continens (see continent). Originally chiefly of sexual appetites; sense of "unable to control bowels or bladder" first attested 1828.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
incontinent
(ĭn-kŏn′tə-nənt)- Lacking normal voluntary control of excretory functions.
- Lacking sexual restraint; unchaste.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
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