libertine

Noun · Adjective
US[lib-er-teen]/ˈlɪbɚˌtin/3 syllables

Open English WordNet

Noun (1)

  1. a dissolute person; usually a man who is morally unrestrainedSynonyms: debaucheerounderType of bad personKinds adulterer, rake, seducer, gigolo, swinger, womanizer, violator

Adjective (1)

  1. unrestrained by convention or morality“Congreve draws a debauched aristocratic society”“deplorably dissipated and degraded”“riotous living”“fast women”Synonyms: debaucheddegeneratedegradeddissipateddissoluteprofligateriotousfastOpposite moralSimilar immoral
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Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Lib′er·tine (-tĭn), noun

Origin: L. libertinus freedman, from libertus one made free, fr. liber free: cf. F. libertin. See Liberal.

1. Roman antiquity A manumitted slave; a freedman; also, the son of a freedman.

2. Eccl. Hist. One of a sect of Anabaptists, in the fifteenth and early part of the sixteenth century, who rejected many of the customs and decencies of life, and advocated a community of goods and of women.

3. One free from restraint; one who acts according to his impulses and desires; now, specifically, one who gives rein to lust; a rake; a debauchee.

Like a puffed and reckless libertine, Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads.— William Shakespeare

4. A defamatory name for a freethinker. Obsolescent


Lib′er·tine adjective

Origin: L. libertinus of a freedman: cf. F. libertin. See Libertine, noun

1. Free from restraint; uncontrolled. obsolete

You are too much libertine.— Francis, & Fletcher, John. Beaumont

2. Dissolute; licentious; profligate; loose in morals; as, libertine principles or manners. Francis, Baron Verulam Bacon

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54

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