lewd
Americanadjective
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lewder,
comparative
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lewdest
superlative
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inclined to, characterized by, or inciting to lust or lechery; lascivious.
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obscene or indecent, as language or songs; salacious.
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Obsolete.
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low, ignorant, or vulgar.
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base, vile, or wicked, especially of a person.
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bad, worthless, or poor, especially of a thing.
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adjective
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characterized by or intended to excite crude sexual desire; obscene
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obsolete
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wicked
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ignorant
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of lewd
First recorded before 900; Middle English leud, lewed, Old English lǣwede “lay, unlearned”
Explanation
Lewd remarks are sexually inappropriate. Personal and sexually explicit comments might be acceptable when said in private, but they are not all right when said to strangers in public. Lewd has to do with sexual behavior or remarks that are highly inappropriate or obscene, often because of what's done or said is in public or to someone who does not want that kind of attention. The couple who might make sexually suggestive jokes in private with each other would be completely out of place doing the same thing in the supermarket. What's more, committing a lewd act or making inappropriate comments is socially — and legally — unacceptable, and it can even land the perpetrator in jail.
Vocabulary lists containing lewd
Novel Study: Hamlet, Acts 1–2
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Ophelia
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The Sun Also Rises
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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.
See Examples For:
Host Mariska Hargitay was refreshingly lewd and charmingly self-deprecating as the first female host of the Emmys in 15 years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
Speaking to the BBC outside, while some people described it as inappropriate or "lewd", many others, including those with young children, were relaxed about its presence.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2024
The federal judge’s rulings may indirectly help at least one of those cases since the state “will have a hard time proving that drag queens are lewd on their own,” Israel said.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 20, 2023
"Even if they were, it's not grounds for removing a liquor license. Drag is not lewd, nor is it a public nuisance as the state claims."
From Salon ● Mar. 17, 2023
“Because you’re horrible. You’re loud and lewd and...treacherous. Brum warned us that Grisha could be charming.”
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
This boke is called þe boke of algorym, or Augrym after lewder vse.
From The Earliest Arithmetics in English by Robert Steele
This boke is called the boke of algorim or augrym after lewder use.
From The Hindu-Arabic Numerals by Louis Charles Karpinski
Who's the lewdest, crudest, most popular person on Comedy Central?
From Time ● Aug. 11, 2010
Wel, sayd Arthur, thou hast said thy message, ye whiche is ye most vylaynous and lewdest message that ever man herd sent unto a kynge.
From At the Sign of the Barber's Pole Studies In Hirsute History by William Andrews
If there is any Thing like this in our Language from the lewdest of our Stage-Writers, I give them over to Mr Collier and the Reformers to do with them what they please.
From Reflections on Dr. Swift's Letter to Harley (1712) and The British Academy (1712) by Louis A. Landa
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.
