raunchy
Americanadjective
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vulgar or smutty; crude; earthy; obscene.
a raunchy joke.
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dirty; slovenly; grubby.
adjective
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openly sexual; lusty; earthy
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slovenly or untidy
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of raunchy
An Americanism dating back to 1935–40; origin uncertain
Explanation
Something raunchy is dirty in one sense or another: it's either literally covered in dirt or suggesting dirty sexual situations. Raunchy started off as Army Air Corps slang for something sloppy in 1939. But by the 60's the word had grown to imply another kind of dirtiness: the vulgar, sexual kind. So these days it's safe to assume that a raunchy movie, for example, is full of foul language, obscenities, and graphic sex scenes. And in case you're wondering, an R-rated movie is much more likely to be raunchy than a G movie.
Vocabulary lists containing raunchy
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:
In the late 1990s and early aughts, the conservative Parents Television Council struck fear in the hearts of network TV executives for its high-profile campaigns against shows it deemed too raunchy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2025
The film wasn’t poking fun at gay men, nor was it particularly raunchy.
From Salon ● Jun. 21, 2025
They range from a seasoned comedy giving its final raunchy bow to a reality competition bringing a new kind of drag art to the mainstream.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2025
The joke is mildly funny to liberal America, where no one is surprised that women can have raunchy senses of humor.
From Salon ● Dec. 31, 2024
When we opened the boxes up, we found a payload of raunchy, orangey red T-shirts faded out in places and with the odd ripped seam adding character.
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
The protagonists of those shows and raunchier offshoots like “Bachelor in Paradise” often found their social followings shooting up into the millions, jump-starting careers or side hustles pitching vitamin gummies or meal kits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
RuPaul's show also made drag into a family-friendly entertainment, at least when it gets stripped of some of the raunchier humor.
From Salon ● Dec. 9, 2022
Orr dismissed comparisons between “Ticket to Paradise” and “Bros,” pointing out that the two films — one a breezy PG-13 confection, the other a more provocative and infinitely raunchier R-rated film — are wildly different.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2022
If she thought drivers were cheating on the meter, she would do battle, jump out without paying and yell a raunchier version of “Don’t ever mess with a New Yorker!”
From New York Times ● Dec. 11, 2021
That means it’s probably within the PG-13 guidelines, and therefore more similar to High School Musical: The Musical: The Series than Hulu’s raunchier shows based around teen characters, like PEN15.
From The Verge ● Feb. 25, 2020
New producer Jimmy Miller helps strip the band down to its rawest, raunchiest essence on songs like “Sympathy for the Devil,” “Stray Cat Blues,” and “Street Fighting Man.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
It’s a bit of a headscratcher how a bunch of descendants of Puritans in a New England state ended up putting some of the raunchiest messages on state-issued license plates.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 27, 2022
Easily the raunchiest Confederate relic north of the Cotton Belt is Maryland’s never-in-mode state song, “Maryland, My Maryland.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 9, 2021
Plautus never got back to me with statutory citations but his characterization of my posts did inspire a piece that I had some fun with mourning the Disneyfication of the raunchiest block in America.
From Forbes ● May 30, 2012
Reading crime novels in mixed company, now that some of the toughest and raunchiest fictional cops, detectives and villains are women, has become a delicate exercise in sexual politics.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
