pedophilia

plural pedophilias · alternative UK paedophilia · alternative dated pædophilia

1. UScountableuncountableSexual attraction by adults and adolescents to children, specifically prepubescent children.

   Sometimes a man with pedophilia is content to stroke the child's hair, but he may also manipulate the child's genitalia, [...]

   2009, Ann Kring, Sheri Johnson, Gerald C. Davison, Abnormal Psychology

   1 more example

   As noted earlier, pedophilia was cited as both an aggravating and a mitigating circumstance by trial judges, as was the absence of pedophilia.

   2007, Margaret Mary Wright, Judicial decision making in child sexual abuse cases, page 122

   Synonyms: childlove, pederosis, pedophilic disorder · Antonyms: teleiophilia

2. USbroadlycountableproscribeduncountableSexual activity between adults and children; the act of child molestation.

   It's quite another (a bad idea) to expect amateurs to figure out who is telling the truth about Iraq, or which priests have committed pedophilia.

   2007 June 17, Todd Oppenheimer, “Read All about It -- but Where, Exactly?”, in SFGate, Hearst Communications

   3 more examples

   Fifteen months later, a committee of the congregation found that he had sexually abused several boys within the congregation. […] The fact that Alger committed pedophilia at the age of thirty-four casts a shadow over his subsequent yearning for relationships with boys and young men, but there is no evidence of any later misconduct.

   1998, Andrew L. Kaufman, Cardozo, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 25

   Entire books have been written about the role of scandal in US politics (Garment, 1992). Offenses include smoking marijuana, hiring illegal aliens, plagiarizing, sexually harassing others, engaging in pedophilia, […]

   2005, Carol Weiss Lewis, Stuart Gilman, The ethics challenge in public service: a problem-solving guide, 2nd edition, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, →ISBN, page 88

   Although the Holy See publicly expressed its rejection of sexual abuse and pedophilia and expressed its commitment to cooperate with civil authorities when cases of pedophile priests were found¹², there are no known cases of bishops or cardinals, being found responsible for abusing children or covering up for pedophilia in their parishes.

   2013 December 28, “Clerical Pedophilia by Mexicans in Mexico and Other Countries”, in CNN en Español, archived from the original on 06 Aug 2025, page 10

   Synonyms: pedosexuality