Definition

Adverb: 1. In a lewd and obscene manner: In a way that is offensive to accepted standards of decency or modesty, especially relating to sexual matters. 2. To an obscene degree; extremely or excessively: Used to emphasize an extreme, often excessive, amount or degree of something, typically in a way that seems shocking or offensive.

Usage and Examples

• In a lewd manner:
  • The comedian's act was criticized for being obscenely vulgar.
  • They were dancing obscenely in the crowded club.
• To an excessive degree:
  • The CEO is paid obscenely well compared to the average worker.
  • The amount of food waste at the event was obscenely high.

Advanced Usage

• The adverb can intensify adjectives describing size, cost, wealth, or other quantities to convey a sense of moral or aesthetic offensiveness due to excess.
  • obscenely expensive, obscenely profitable, obscenely large

Variants and Related Words

• Obscene (adjective): Offensive to morality or decency; indecent. Also, repulsive by reason of excess (e.g., ).
• Obscenity (noun): The state or quality of being obscene; an obscene act, word, or thing.

Synonyms

• Lewdly: In a crude and offensive sexual manner.
• Indecently: In a manner offending against accepted standards of propriety.
• Outrageously: To a shocking or excessive degree.
• Exorbitantly: (For the degree sense) To an unreasonably high degree.

Notes on Meaning

The two primary meanings are connected by the core idea of something being "offensive." The first meaning relates to offense against sexual morality. The second meaning extends this to offense against general sensibility due to extreme excess, implying the amount is morally or socially repugnant.

Adverb

1. in a lewd and obscene manner
   • he had seen how in their dances the white men and women held one another obscenely
2. to an obscene degree
   • this man is obscenely rich