Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Characterized by or arousing an excessive or unwholesome interest in sexual matters: "prurient" describes something that shows, stimulates, or is motivated by an unhealthy or excessive curiosity about sex.
   • Having or encouraging lustful thoughts or desires: It can describe a person's state of mind or the nature of materials intended to provoke sexual excitement.

Usage and Examples

• As an adjective:
  • The novel was banned for its prurient content. (The novel was prohibited because it contained material designed to arouse excessive sexual interest.)
  • He was accused of having a prurient interest in the scandal. (He was charged with having an unhealthy, voyeuristic curiosity about the scandalous details.)
  • The tabloid's coverage was criticized for being prurient rather than informative. (The newspaper's reporting was condemned for focusing on salacious details instead of facts.)

Advanced Usage and Nuances

• Legal Context: In legal definitions, such as for obscenity, "prurient interest" often refers to a shameful or morbid interest in sex, as opposed to a normal, healthy interest.
  • The law seeks to distinguish between artistic expression and material appealing solely to a prurient interest.
• Figurative Use: While primarily sexual, it can sometimes be used more broadly to criticize an excessive, intrusive, or unhealthy curiosity about any private or sordid matter.
  • The journalist rejected prurient questions about the celebrity's personal life.

Variants and Related Words

• Prurience (noun): The state or quality of being prurient; excessive interest in sexual matters.
  • The prurience of the article was offensive to many readers.
• Pruriently (adverb): In a prurient manner.
  • He glanced pruriently at the couple.

Synonyms

• Lascivious: Feeling or revealing an overt and often offensive sexual desire.
• Salacious: Having or conveying undue or inappropriate interest in sexual matters.
• Lustful: Full of or motivated by strong sexual desire.
• Lewd: Crude and offensive in a sexual way.

Antonyms

• Chaste: Abstaining from extramarital, or from all, sexual intercourse; not involving any sexual activity or imagery.
• Modest: Unassuming or moderate in the estimation of one's abilities or achievements; also, dressing or behaving so as to avoid impropriety or indecency.
• Pure: Not mixed with any other substance; free of any contamination. In a moral sense, free of sexual immorality.

Idioms and Phrases

• Prurient interest: A legal and common phrase denoting an unhealthy, voyeuristic fascination, especially with sexual details.
  • The film was alleged to appeal to the prurient interest without any redeeming social value.

Adjective

1. characterized by lust
   • eluding the lubricious embraces of her employer
   • her sensuous grace roused his lustful nature
   • prurient literature
   • prurient thoughts
   • a salacious rooster of a little man