Prurience
noun
An excessive interest in sexual ideas or acts.
The book was banned from the library due to its strong prurience.
Often appears as...
- an element of prurience
- prurience in literature
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
Academic
noun
A strong desire to know about something private or secret.
There is a prurience about celebrity life and fashion that fuels tabloids.
Often appears as...
- prurience about someone's life
- prurience in media
Usage tips
Disapproving
noun
An excessive interest in sexual ideas or acts.
The book was banned from the library due to its strong prurience.
Often appears as...
- an element of prurience
- prurience in literature
Usage tips
Formal, Disapproving
Academic
noun
A strong desire to know about something private or secret.
There is a prurience about celebrity life and fashion that fuels tabloids.
Often appears as...
- prurience about someone's life
- prurience in media
Usage tips
Disapproving
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Tone
Prurience has a disapproving tone, suggesting that the interest is inappropriate or too much.
The film's prurience overshadowed its artistic value.
Pro Tip 2/3Not for Children
Content described as prurient is not suitable for children due to its sexual nature.
Parental guidance is advised due to scenes of prurience.
Pro Tip 3/3Censorship
Works with prurient content are often censored or restricted in some societies.
The gallery removed the painting because of its prurience.
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Tone
Prurience has a disapproving tone, suggesting that the interest is inappropriate or too much.
The film's prurience overshadowed its artistic value.
Pro Tip 2/3Not for Children
Content described as prurient is not suitable for children due to its sexual nature.
Parental guidance is advised due to scenes of prurience.
Pro Tip 3/3Censorship
Works with prurient content are often censored or restricted in some societies.
The gallery removed the painting because of its prurience.
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Tone
Prurience has a disapproving tone, suggesting that the interest is inappropriate or too much.
The film's prurience overshadowed its artistic value.
Pro Tip 2/3Not for Children
Content described as prurient is not suitable for children due to its sexual nature.
Parental guidance is advised due to scenes of prurience.
Pro Tip 3/3Censorship
Works with prurient content are often censored or restricted in some societies.
The gallery removed the painting because of its prurience.
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Quote examples
Nancy Gibbs
American Journalist
The days of the Pentagon Papers debates seem long past, when a sudden transparency yielded insight into fights over war and peace and freedom and security; the transparency afforded by Twitter and Facebook yields insights that extend no further than a lawmaker's boundless narcissism and a culture's pitiless prurience.
Quote examples
Julia Glass
American Novelist
At its best, fiction cultivates fantasy and compassion; at its worst, memoir provokes schadenfreude and prurience. The ugly truth, I fear, is that many people are drawn to sensational memoirs for the same reason they watch 'The Apprentice': they like to witness actual suffering, before-your-very-eyes humiliation.
Quote examples
Kate O'Mara
English Actress
Why should anyone be interested in my life? It's the prurience I find so extraordinary. Why, why, oh why should my private life be of any interest to the public? The only people who should be interested are my friends.
Quote examples
Niall Ferguson
British Historian
The British press has an insatiable appetite for making public things that should be private. It's a prurience that I've never understood.
Quote examples
Nancy Gibbs
American Journalist
The days of the Pentagon Papers debates seem long past, when a sudden transparency yielded insight into fights over war and peace and freedom and security; the transparency afforded by Twitter and Facebook yields insights that extend no further than a lawmaker's boundless narcissism and a culture's pitiless prurience.
Quote examples
Julia Glass
American Novelist
At its best, fiction cultivates fantasy and compassion; at its worst, memoir provokes schadenfreude and prurience. The ugly truth, I fear, is that many people are drawn to sensational memoirs for the same reason they watch 'The Apprentice': they like to witness actual suffering, before-your-very-eyes humiliation.
Quote examples
Kate O'Mara
English Actress
Why should anyone be interested in my life? It's the prurience I find so extraordinary. Why, why, oh why should my private life be of any interest to the public? The only people who should be interested are my friends.
Quote examples
Niall Ferguson
British Historian
The British press has an insatiable appetite for making public things that should be private. It's a prurience that I've never understood.
Example 1 of 4
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