Definition

Noun: 1. A morbid or excessive interest in sexual matters; lewdness: Prurience refers to an unhealthy, obsessive, or inappropriate preoccupation with sexual thoughts, desires, or details. It implies a lack of healthy restraint and a focus on the salacious aspects of sexuality. 2. (Less common) An excessive or unhealthy curiosity or desire for something: In a broader, more figurative sense, it can describe an intense, often unwholesome, eagerness or craving for any subject, not exclusively sexual.

Usage

• Prurience is a formal and critical term. It is used to describe a state of mind or a characteristic of interest, often in contexts discussing morality, psychology, media, or behavior.
• It is an uncountable noun. You do not say "a prurience" or "pruriences."
• Common collocations include:

Examples

• The journalist accused the tabloid newspaper of exploiting the tragedy to cater to prurience rather than to inform.
• His questions about their private life betrayed a disturbing prurience.
• The novel was banned not for its political message but for the alleged prurience of its descriptions.
• (Figurative) The documentary was criticized for its prurience in detailing the celebrity's financial ruin.

Advanced Usage

• "Prurience masquerading as concern": A phrase used to criticize when someone's apparent interest in a serious matter is actually driven by a voyeuristic or unhealthy curiosity.
  • The intense media coverage of the family's grief was nothing more than prurience masquerading as public concern.

Variants and Related Words

• Prurient (adjective): Having or encouraging an excessive interest in sexual matters.
  • The court ruled the material was obscene and appealed to prurient interests.
• Pruriency (noun): A less common synonym for prurience, identical in meaning.

Synonyms

• Lasciviousness: Suggesting overt and overtly expressed sexual desire.
• Lewdness: Crude and offensive in a sexual way.
• Salaciousness: Emphasizing a lustful or lecherous interest in sexual details.
• Voyeurism: Deriving pleasure from observing intimate or private acts (literal or figurative).

Related Idioms and Phrases

• To pander to prurience: To deliberately provide material designed to satisfy unhealthy sexual curiosity.
  • The filmmaker was accused of pandering to the audience's prurience with gratuitous scenes.
• A prurient interest: A common phrase used in legal and critical contexts to describe an unhealthy focus on sexual content.
  • The book was deemed to have no literary value and to appeal solely to a prurient interest.

Noun

1. feeling morbid sexual desire or a propensity to lewdness