Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Having casual sexual relations frequently with different partners; indiscriminate in the choice of sexual partners.
- adj. Lacking standards of selection; indiscriminate.
- adj. Casual; random.
- adj. Consisting of diverse, unrelated parts or individuals; confused: "Throngs promiscuous strew the level green” ( Alexander Pope).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Consisting of parts or individuals grouped together without order; mingled indiscriminately; confused.
- Forming part of a mingled or confused crowd or mass.
- Distributed or applied without order or discrimination; common; indiscriminate; not restricted to one individual: as, promiscuous sexual intercourse.
- Casual; accidental.
- Synonyms Promiscuous, Miscellaneous. Promiscuous emphasizes the complete lack of arrangement; miscellaneous the throwing together of different kinds. Hence we speak of promiscuous, but not of miscellaneous, confusion; of miscellaneous, not promiscuous, articles in a magazine. A work-bag contains a miscellaneous collection of things, which should never be allowed to become promiscuous.
Wiktionary
- adj. Made up of various disparate elements mixed together; of disorderly composition.
- adj. Made without careful choice; indiscriminate.
- adj. Indiscriminate in choice of sexual partners.
- adj. networking The mode in which a NIC gathers all network traffic instead of getting only the traffic intended for it.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Consisting of individuals united in a body or mass without order; mingled; confused; undistinguished.
- adj. Distributed or applied without order or discrimination; not restricted to an individual; common; indiscriminate.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. casual and unrestrained in sexual behavior
- adj. not selective of a single class or person
Etymologies
- From Latin prōmiscuus ("mixed, not separated"), from prō ("forth") + misceō ("mix"). (Wiktionary)
- From Latin prōmiscuus, possessed equally : prō-, intensive pref.; see pro-1 + miscēre, to mix; see meik- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“WILLENBRING: That's what we call a promiscuous molecule, because it's very small and it goes all over the brain and it affects multiple nerve systems.”
“I ask this because just as reiterating that being promiscuous is unhealthy is unnecessary to the conversation about someone stalking another for being promiscuous, it is unnecessary to reiterate that being fat is unhealthy when talking about someone stalking another on television.”
I want you to stop stalking "overweight" women. - Feministing
“But I am continually struck by the perplexing question of why perception persists that primarily gay and bisexual men are termed 'promiscuous.”
The Huffington Post: Abby L. Ferber: Schwarzenegger, DSK and Heterosexual Privilege
“The meme that "gays are incredibly promiscuous" is a favorite of religious right spokespeople.”
“Encourage a culture of guilt tripping those who smoke, eat too much, engage in promiscuous sex, and other self destructive behaviors.”
Quack Remedy, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“The idea that because liberals are in favor of sexual liberty they must therefore believe that anyone even ought to be promiscuous is ridiculous.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » “Do ‘Family Values’ Weaken Families?”
“Then it turns him into a "swinger", a person "who engages freely in promiscuous sex," exactly what you'd expect from a first-century Jewish prophet who denounced divorce and advocated adherence to the Law.”
“Of coarse for elected officials sleeping around being promiscuous is NOT a way to get elected or re-elected either!”
“The bold-faced girls who passed the evening on the corner, in promiscuous flirtation with the cock-eyed youths of the neighborhood, unconsciously revealed to me the eternal secrets of adolescence.”
“Please show me the definition of promiscuous that backs this up.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘promiscuous’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Words starting with PRO
I've noticed many, many words start with PRO and this is just a collection of them.
professional, pronunciation, Prolagus, probable, prog, proximity, profit, procrastincate, prom, pronoun, promise, proactive and 206 more...
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EN - Old Western Slang
a hog-killin' time, a lick and a promise, according to Hoyle, ace-high, all down but nine, arbuckle's, at sea, back down, balled up, bang-up, bazoo, bear sign and 212 more...
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Vocab Words
Common words and their meanings.
Ra eh RA EH ..............whim, debilitating, grimoire, vain, morphine, shingle, muzzle, moccasin, stifle, fiend, chain of command, clandestine and 9 more...
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Kangaroo Words 2
Kangaroo words with joey-antonyms, e.g., pest/pet
pest, friend, giant, cremate, covert, there, feast, wonderful, animosity, inattentive, electrocuted, rectitude and 54 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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Words from Moby Dick
frigate, presumptuous, genteel, succor, hearthstone, gentry, factitious, bilious, insurgent, portent, enervate, genuflect and 303 more...
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dharma66's list
words that pique my interest either by meaning, pronunciation, or spelling, and words that otherwise tickle my fancy!!
pique, elusive, serendipity, nefarious, redundant, pseudoscientific, obsequious, flack, quandary, impervious, perchance, translucent and 168 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
bumwank, calamity, recalcitrant, gayenese, jeeze, nonsense, flabbergasted, juxtapose, procrastinating, ossanity, biffing, loser and 1972 more... -
Evolution
darwin, hms beagle, galapagos, evolution, natural selection, select for, confer, survival advantage, environmental pre..., mutation, genome, homozygous and 193 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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wanderstar's Words
superlative, mulish, mumps, catatonic, aquiline, clandestine, phantasmagoria, chryselephantine, microfiche, mutineer, reprobate, ruthless and 312 more...
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Vocab
Words that I come across, and go blank, or want to clarify.
nefarious, edifice, malevolent, ostensible, folderol, bauble, livid, amnesty, calculus, saddlery, maisonette, cuisse and 423 more...
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The New Yorker
prejudice, ignominious, quintessence, disparity, vanguard, repudiated, eclectic, dredge, taxonomy, pugnacious, surreptitiously, pudgy and 113 more...
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katiad's Words
exquisite, obnoxious, noxious, extravaganza, whirlwind, whirling, wild, spinster, existential, chaos, zephyr, blasphemy and 310 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for promiscuous.
oroboros PromIscOUS May 8, 2008