voluptuary
Americannoun
adjective
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of voluptuary
First recorded in 1595–1605; from French voluptuaire, from Late Latin voluptuārius, from Latin “pertaining to (sensual) pleasure,” equivalent to volupt(ās) “pleasure, delight” + -ārius adjective suffix; see -ary; for -u- see voluptuous
Explanation
A voluptuary loves the good life — he is a person whose fondest wish might be to lie on a velvet sofa while being fed chocolate cupcakes. Another word for voluptuary is hedonist, someone whose favorite things are comfort and luxury, and whose highest priority is sensual pleasure. A voluptuary might be especially fond of fine clothing, delicious food, and a luxurious home. The Latin root of voluputary is voluptas, which means "pleasure," and that is exactly what a voluptuary is preoccupied with, his or her own pleasure.
Vocabulary lists containing voluptuary
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:
Gumprecht Weiss — we learn his name later on — had once been a voluptuary but in middle age now prefers an ascetic, philosophical life.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 21, 2015
You probably don't picture a notorious voluptuary, a man who just last year was chowing on double burgers right before a conference on obesity.
From Salon ● Dec. 28, 2010
In place of some Hollywood voluptuary, she gives us a Cleopatra who is a working queen and ruler: at one point we even see her in specs sitting at a desk signing state papers.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 15, 2010
The eponymous regent, the Prince of Wales who ruled when his father, George III, went mad, was “a voluptuary of the highest order.”
From New York Times ● May 16, 2010
And the departing voluptuary exhorts his friends to follow his example: “My friends, while we live, let us live”; “Eat, drink, disport thyself, and then join us.”
From Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius by Dill, Samuel
Most important, the winged folk held out the prospect of an airy, insubstantial and blissfully frivolous life beyond the reach of the wealthiest voluptuaries.
From Time Magazine Archive
Painter Ben Johnson, 60, brings off the neat trick of evoking an almost Rubens fleshiness while adhering to a strict hard-edge technique, and his voluptuaries thrive surprisingly well in their poster environment.
From Time Magazine Archive
A renaissance of bathrooms and bathing seems to be in progress rivaling the innovations of the most inventive Roman voluptuaries.
From Time Magazine Archive
The leaders they had had at Sedan rose before his memory, voluptuaries and imbeciles; one more, one less, what odds did it make!
From The Downfall by Robins, E. P.
Unless you blend with it the true and good, your love of beauty will degenerate into the merely sensuous æsthetics, which, at the present day, renders its votaries fastidious, etiolated voluptuaries.
From Vashti or, Until Death Us Do Part by Wilson, Augusta J. Evans
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.
