promiscuous
adjective
Norman Cousins
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The Multiple Meanings of Promiscuous
Promiscuous (from Latin promiscuus “without distinction, taken from every different type”) has a range of meanings in English. The oldest of these is “composed of all sorts of persons and things” (as in “a promiscuous array of books” or “the promiscuous company at the tavern”). This meaning suggests a random assortment, not necessarily with negative implications.
Within the last few hundred years, promiscuous has added the usually negatively-tinged meanings “indiscriminate” (“promiscuous destruction by bombing”), “casual or careless” (“the president’s promiscuous dishonesty”), and of course, “not restricted to one sexual partner.”
Does this mean that the word itself is promiscuous? Not at all. It is not uncommon for English words to display this polysemous (“having multiple meanings”) character, and promiscuous is actually on the tidy end of the spectrum, as far as these things go. Some English words have dozens of meanings.
Synonyms
Examples of promiscuous in a Sentence
Emily Palmer, People.com, 3 Nov. 2024
But their whirlwind romance can’t overcome his insecurities over her promiscuous past and the blatant homophobia of his writing partner Banky (Jason Lee), who lashes out at the relationship as a means of dealing with his own repressed homosexuality.
—Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 31 Oct. 2024
This term was derived from bawd, which referred to someone who encouraged immoral or promiscuous behavior, particularly a procuress or pimp.
—Erik Kain, Forbes, 27 Oct. 2024
The result will be a promiscuous world order in which countries will be able to make arrangements with both China and the United States.
—Mark Leonard, Foreign Affairs, 12 Aug. 2013
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Dictionary Entries Near promiscuous
Cite this Entry
“Promiscuous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/promiscuous. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
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promiscuous
adjective
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adjective
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