as in warm
formal + usually disapproving
having or showing too much interest in sex
He took a prurient interest in their personal life. a book that appealed to the prurient curiosity of its readers
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Recent Examples of prurient
Then it was replaced by prurient talk about a nude shot.
—
Mikey O'Connell, HollywoodReporter, 2 Apr. 2025
During this time, Law was hounded by the press and made into an object of prurient fascination and lust.
—Ramin Setoodeh, Variety, 30 Oct. 2024
Apart from prurient interest, why should any of us really care?
—Robin Abcarian, The Mercury News, 3 Oct. 2024
And yet this prurient curiosity also threatened the delicate equilibrium between devout Mormonism and hot-mom content that the group’s women were attempting to maintain.
—Naomi Fry, The New Yorker, 14 Sep. 2024
See All Example Sentences for prurient
Recent Examples of Synonyms for prurient
Adjective
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Set up your own cafe with deals on this convenient one-cup coffee maker and best-selling milk frother, plus keep your coffee hot all day with this mug warmer.—
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Further, thanks to the faux fur lining and waterproof leather exterior, your feet remain toasty warm and completely dry, no matter the conditions.—
Adjective
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Which was a fun mid-century technique to render a pic unpublishable.—
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But much of what’s popping up on Substack is appealingly specific, the kind of stuff that’s unpublishable elsewhere.—
Adjective
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Rye whiskey is the drier and spicier cousin of bourbon with an herbaceous edge, an edge which (as with the Sazerac, La Louisiane and others) is given a few dozen exclamation points with a dash of absinthe.—
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This creamy, cheesy pasta dish gets its extra spicy flavor from Andouille sausage, pepper Jack cheese, and Cajun seasoning.—
Adjective
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While touring the plant, video posted by TMZ showed Trump making an obscene gesture at someone who was yelling at him from afar.—
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Trump responded with a curse word and using an obscene gesture.—
Adjective
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Detectives with the sheriff’s Child Abuse Bureau led the investigation and obtained an arrest warrant for Rutherford on one count of oral copulation on a victim 10 years old or younger and three counts of committing lewd and lascivious acts with a child younger than 14.—
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She is charged with two counts of indecent, lewd or lascivious touching of certain minors, and violation of parole, according to the report.—
Adjective
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Until then, the only limits on their selections were Vimeo’s standard terms of service, which prohibit content that incites violence or qualifies as pornographic.—
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Under a new law, Florida began requiring age verification checks for visitors to pornographic websites, notes Paul Bischoff, editor of Comparitech, a site that reviews personal cybersecurity software.—
Adjective
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Mayor Armin Mizani posted a photo on X of what appears to be a commercial sign with the indecent declaration scrawled in all caps.—
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He was charged with two counts of child molestation and two counts of enticing a child for indecent purposes, according to court records.—
Adjective
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The agents’ demand that Good exit her vehicle is suggestive of an intent to take her into custody.—
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At the same time, there is no denying that Rodriguez’s 23-page complaint filed December 25 is full of potentially damning text message screen grabs, remarks about oral sex and other suggestive conversation from an allegedly predatory Perry.—
Cite this Entry
“Prurient.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/prurient. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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