INDECENT

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does indecent mean? 

• INDECENT (adjective)
  The adjective INDECENT has 3 senses:

1. not in keeping with accepted standards of what is right or proper in polite society

2. offensive to good taste especially in sexual matters

3. offending against sexual mores in conduct or appearance

  Familiarity information: INDECENT used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INDECENT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not in keeping with accepted standards of what is right or proper in polite society

Synonyms:

indecent; indecorous; unbecoming; uncomely; unseemly; untoward

Context example:

moved to curb their untoward ribaldry

Similar:

improper (not suitable or right or appropriate)

Derivation:

indecency (an indecent or improper act)

indecency (the quality of being indecent)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Offensive to good taste especially in sexual matters

Context example:

an indecent gesture

Similar:

crude; earthy; gross; vulgar (conspicuously and tastelessly indecent)

Hollywood (flashy and vulgar)

indelicate (verging on the indecent)

obscene (designed to incite to indecency or lust)

suggestive (tending to suggest something improper or indecent)

Also:

dirty ((of behavior or especially language) characterized by obscenity or indecency)

indecorous; indelicate (lacking propriety and good taste in manners and conduct)

improper (not suitable or right or appropriate)

Antonym:

decent (conforming to conventions of sexual behavior)

Derivation:

indecency (an indecent or improper act)

indecency (the quality of being indecent)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Offending against sexual mores in conduct or appearance

Context example:

a bathing suit considered indecent by local standards

Similar:

immodest (offending against sexual mores in conduct or appearance)

Derivation:

indecency (an indecent or improper act)

indecency (the quality of being indecent)

 Context examples 

"He says it was indecent, ob—obscene."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Sheriff Lee said they arrested one person for urinating in public, technically indecent exposure.

(Millions don't turn up to 'storm' US airbase for extraterrestrial evidence, Wikinews)

The air was filled with oaths and indecent expressions.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

That perhaps it was a little indecent that the principal registrar of all, whose duty it was to find the public, constantly resorting to this place, all needful accommodation, should be an enormous sinecurist in virtue of that post (and might be, besides, a clergyman, a pluralist, the holder of a staff in a cathedral, and what not),—while the public was put to the inconvenience of which we had a specimen every afternoon when the office was busy, and which we knew to be quite monstrous.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It may therefore be judged indecent in me to come forward on this occasion, but when I see a fellow creature about to perish through the cowardice of her pretended friends, I wish to be allowed to speak, that I may say what I know of her character.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

He ran the gamut of denunciation, rising to heights of wrath that were sublime and almost Godlike, and from sheer exhaustion sinking to the vilest and most indecent abuse.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)