libertine

[lib-er-teen, -tin]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR libertine ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a person who is morally or sexually unrestrained, especially a dissolute man; a profligate; rake.

a freethinker in religious matters.

a person freed from slavery in ancient Rome.

adjective

free of moral, especially sexual, restraint; dissolute; licentious.

freethinking in religious matters.

Archaic. unrestrained; uncontrolled.

Origin of libertine

1350–1400; Middle English libertyn < Latin lībertīnus of a freedman (adj.), freedman (noun), equivalent to lībert(us) freedman (apparently by reanalysis of liber-tās liberty as libert-ās) + -īnus -ine¹

Synonyms for libertine

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR libertine ON THESAURUS.COM

1. roué, debauchee, lecher, sensualist. 4. amoral, sensual, lascivious, lewd.

Antonyms for libertine

1. prude.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for libertine

profligate, freethinking, lecher, sensualist, rake, voluptuary, debauchee, satyr, cyprian, dissolute, immoral, lascivious, lecherous, lewd, libidinous, licentious, lustful, rakish, sensual, paillard

Examples from the Web for libertine

Contemporary Examples of libertine

In this way, bisexual is code for libertine, which is something else altogether.
It Ain't Easy Being Bisexual on TV
Amy Zimmerman
August 14, 2014
And they were both these libertine figures during their lives.
The Art World’s New Gang War
Anthony Haden-Guest
May 1, 2014
She sought to arouse what attention she could by running for governor as the most libertine of libertarians.
Kristin Davis, Self-Styled Spitzer Madam, Is Arraigned on Drug Charges
Michael Daly
August 7, 2013
Although married to the prominent French heiress and journalist Anne Sinclair, Strauss-Kahn was a libertine of the old school.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn Settles With Maid: How the Case Changed France
Christopher Dickey
December 11, 2012
But Strauss-Kahn, 63, was leading the private life of a “libertine,” as he has since admitted.
Reports: Dominique Strauss-Kahn Settles With Maid Who Claimed Sexual Assault
Christopher Dickey
November 30, 2012

Historical Examples of libertine

Libertine as he is, can have no thoughts of any other woman but Clarissa.
Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)
Samuel Richardson
To speak the truth you are simply playing the game of a libertine.
A Comedy of Marriage and Other Tales
Guy De Maupassant
I loved her; but when I loved her I ceased to be a libertine.
Vivian Grey
Earl of Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli
"It was that libertine brother-in-law of mine, the Duke of Gandia," he said.
The Historical Nights' Entertainment
Rafael Sabatini
Even the libertine, that pauper in the realm of Love, wants the perfect life.
Sex=The Unknown Quantity
Ali Nomad

British Dictionary definitions for libertine

libertine

noun

a morally dissolute person

adjective

morally dissolute

Derived Formslibertinage or libertinism, noun

Word Origin for libertine

C14 (in the sense: freedman, dissolute person): from Latin lībertīnus freedman, from lībertus freed, from līber free

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for libertine

late 14c., "a freedman, an emancipated slave," from Latin libertinus "member of a class of freedmen," from libertus "one's freedmen," from liber "free" (see liberal). Sense of "freethinker" is first recorded 1560s, from French libertin (1540s) originally the name given to certain Protestant sects in France and the Low Countries. Meaning "dissolute or licentious person" first recorded 1590s; the darkening of meaning being perhaps due to misunderstanding of Latin libertinus in Acts vi:9. As an adjective by 1570s.