Learned borrowing fromLatinprūriēns, present participle ofprūriō(“itch”).
prurient (comparativemoreprurient,superlativemostprurient)
- Uneasy withdesire;itching; especially, having alascivious anxiety orpropensity;lustful.
1823, “The London Literary Gazette and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, Etc”, in(Please provide the book title or journal name)[1], page781:We know that at that period certain indecencies in the dresses, even of those who were considered as the most refined and polished men of the age, were not only tolerated but ostentatiously displayed, and every sort of device that the mostprurient mind could think of was had recourse to, to attract attention or excite a smile.
1995, Brian Parkinson,Ideas and Realities of Emotion[2], page124:For example, some of the more prudish senders may have averted their attention from the sexual pictures while other moreprurient viewers may have intensified their gaze.
2010 [2008], Stephen Sartarelli,Love and the Erotic in Art[3], US: John Paul Getty Trust, translation ofAmore ed erotismo by Stefano Zuffi, page 7:It must be removed at once, lest it disturb the young and arouse in adults the mostprurient thoughts.
- Arousing or appealing tosexualdesire.
1825,The Literary Chronicle for the Year 1825[4], London, page156:[…]nor is it moreprurient or lascivious than many productions to be found in a circulating library.
2008, Marcel Danesi,Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives[5], page204:But in contemporary consumerist societies, when the kids are safely in bed, television programs allow viewers to indulge their moreprurient interests.
- Curious, especially inappropriately so.
1842, [anonymous collaborator ofLetitia Elizabeth Landon], “(please specify the page)”, inLady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London:Henry Colburn, […],→OCLC,pages303–304:Had she known thatprurient anecdotes, breaches of confidence, scandalous facts, and cruel observations, were intended to constitute the matter and to enhance the price, her very heart would have broken under the affliction such a disgraceful proceeding exhibited,...
2005, Donald Gilbert-Santamaría,Writers on the Market: Consuming Literature in Early Seventeenth-century Spain[6], page130:Much of my discussion in the previous two chapters has focused on the dichotomy in Alemán's novel between the author's stated interest in moral didacticism and the moreprurient appeal of the novel's representations of material privation and violent spectacle.
uneasy with desire; lustful
curious, especially inappropriately so
prūrient
- third-personpluralfutureactiveindicative ofprūriō
