Word of the Day ·

P3R1O1M3I1S1C3U1O1U1S1

promiscuous

/pɹəˈmɪs.kju.əs/

adjective

What it means

  1. Made up of various disparate elements mixed together; of disorderly composition.

    Came singly where he stood on the bare strand, / While the promiscuous croud stood yet aloof.

    1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 379-80
    1 more example

    [T]hey had both been educated [...] on plans at once narrow and promiscuous, first in an English family and afterwards in a Swiss family at Lausanne, their bachelor uncle and guardian trying in this way to remedy the disadvantages of their orphaned condition.

    1871, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter I, in Middlemarch […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book I, page 4

    Synonyms: motley

  2. Made without careful choice; indiscriminate.

    A sail caught by a promiscuous wind.

  3. Having many sexual partners, especially if indiscriminate in choice of sexual partners.

    X spreads false rumours to third parties about X’s spouse being promiscuous. X’s spouse finds out about the rumours and is distressed. X has committed emotional or psychological abuse against X’s spouse.

    2023, Parliament of Singapore, “Women’s Charter (Family Violence and Other Matters) (Amendment) Bill”, in Republic of Singapore Government Gazette, archived from the original on 10 May 2023, page 5

In a sentence

Came singly where he stood on the bare strand, / While the promiscuous croud stood yet aloof.

1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 379-80

Where it comes from

  1. Latinprōmiscuus“mixed, not separated”
  2. Englishpromiscuous

From Latin prōmiscuus (“mixed, not separated”), from prō (“forth”) + misceō (“mix”).

Full entry for promiscuous →

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