licentiousness
nounEtymology From licentious + -ness.
1
Usually The property of being licentious.
- ... and well considered, me thinks this is one of the most censurable parts of this licentiousnesse, in regard it laboureth to taint the whole body of conversation, as it corrupteth the nature of words, which are the Publique Faith, whereupon all innocent discourse must needs trust it selfe, so that this perversion seemeth a publick impediment to the commerce of all vertuous communication ...1648, Walter Montagu, “Of Scurrility”, in Miscellanea Spiritualia, London: W. Lee, D. Pakeman, and G. Bedell, section 2, page 144:
- Early mentality, in initiating phallic worship, was never in any way guilty of licentiousness or obscenity.1941, George Ryley Scott, Phallic Worship: A History of Sex and Sex Rites in Relation to the Religions of All Races from Antiquity to the Present Day, London: T. Werner Laurie, page x:
- Related terms
- debauchery