Adjacent Words

Lewd definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

LEWD, a. [Heb.]
1. Given to the unlawful indulgence of lust; addicted to fornication or adultery; dissolute; lustful; libidinous.
Ezek 23.
2. Proceeding from unlawful lust; as lewd actions.
3. Wicked; vile; profligate; licentious. Acts 27.
LEWD, a. [L. gnes, from geno.] Lay; laical; not clerical. Obs.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: suggestive of or tending to moral looseness; "lewd whisperings of a dirty old man"; "an indecent gesture"; "obscene telephone calls"; "salacious limericks" [syn: lewd, obscene, raunchy, salacious]
2: driven by lust; preoccupied with or exhibiting lustful desires; "libidinous orgies" [syn: lascivious, lewd, libidinous, lustful]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Middle English lewed vulgar, from Old English l?wede laical, ignorant Date: 14th century 1. obsolete evil, wicked 2. a. sexually unchaste or licentious b. obscene, vulgar • lewdly adverb • lewdness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 lascivious. 2 indecent, obscene. Derivatives: lewdly adv. lewdness n. Etymology: OE læwede LAY(2), of unkn. orig.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lewd Lewd (l[=u]d), a. [Compar. Lewder (-[~e]r); superl. Lewdest.] [OE. lewed, lewd, lay, ignorant, vile, AS. l[=ae]wed laical, belonging to the laity.] 1. Not clerical; laic; laical; hence, unlearned; simple. [Obs.] For if a priest be foul, on whom we trust, No wonder is a lewed man to rust. --Chaucer. So these great clerks their little wisdom show To mock the lewd, as learn'd in this as they. --Sir. J. Davies. 2. Belonging to the lower classes, or the rabble; idle and lawless; bad; vicious. [Archaic] --Chaucer. But the Jews, which believed not, . . . took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, . . . and assaulted the house of Jason. --Acts xvii. 5. Too lewd to work, and ready for any kind of mischief. --Southey. 3. Given to the promiscuous indulgence of lust; dissolute; lustful; libidinous. --Dryden. 4. Suiting, or proceeding from, lustfulness; involving unlawful sexual desire; as, lewd thoughts, conduct, or language. Syn: Lustful; libidinous; licentious; profligate; dissolute; sensual; unchaste; impure; lascivious; lecherous; rakish; debauched. -- Lewd"ly, adv. -- Lewd"ness, n.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you describe someone's behaviour as lewd, you are critical of it because it is sexual in a rude and unpleasant way. Drew spends all day eyeing up the women and making lewd comments. ADJ [disapproval] • lewdness The critics condemned the play for lewdness.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. [Archaic.] Vile, despicable, loose, profligate, wicked. 2. Lustful. See libidinous.

Moby Thesaurus

Fescennine, Rabelaisian, animal, aphrodisiomaniacal, bawdy, blue, carnal, clitoromaniacal, coarse, concupiscent, crude, debauched, dirty, dissolute, erotic, eroticomaniacal, erotomaniacal, fast, filthy, fleshly, foul, foul-mouthed, foul-spoken, foul-tongued, fulsome, goatish, gross, gynecomaniacal, hircine, horny, hot, hysteromaniacal, improper, impure, incontinent, indecent, indelicate, ithyphallic, lascivious, lecherous, libertine, libidinous, licentious, lickerish, lubricious, lubricous, lurid, lustful, nasty, nymphomaniacal, obscene, offensive, pornographic, priapic, prurient, randy, raunchy, raw, ribald, rude, ruttish, salacious, satyric, satyrical, scurrile, scurrilous, sensual, sexual, sexy, smoking-room, smutty, suggestive, sultry, unchaste, unclean, unprintable, unrepeatable, unvirtuous, vile, wild