- offensive or outrageous to accepted standards of decency or modesty
- (of publications) having a tendency to deprave or corrupt
- disgusting; repellent
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
ob•scene /əbˈsin/USA pronunciation
adj.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- offensive to people's feelings about what is moral or decent:obscene language.
- intended to excite or stimulate sexual appetite;
lewd:obscene movies. - terrible;
disgusting;
abominable;
repulsive:obscene cruelty.
ob•scene
(əb sēn′),USA pronunciation adj.
ob•scene′ly, adv.
ob•scene′ness, n.
- offensive to morality or decency;
indecent;
depraved:obscene language. - causing uncontrolled sexual desire.
- abominable;
disgusting;
repulsive.
- Latin obscēnus, obscaenus
- 1585–95
ob•scene′ness, n.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
obscene /əbˈsiːn/ adj
'obscene' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
billingsgate
- censor
- curse
- dirt
- dirty
- eff
- expurgate
- facetiae
- filthy
- foul
- four-letter word
- graffiti
- lewd
- nasty
- obscenity
- panic button
- raw
- register
- ribald
- rude
- Satanism
- scurrilous
- smut
- swearword
- V-chip
- vulgarism
- bad
- bawdy
- bird
- blank
- bleep
- blue
- coarse
- curse word
- dirty-minded
- dirty old man
- family
- fescennine
- filth
- finger
- foulmouthed
- gross
- impure
- indecent
- ithyphallic
- judge
- lubricious
- mature
- mucky
- pornography