risqué

comparative more risqué · superlative most risqué · alternative risque · alternative risquée

1. Slightly sexually suggestive; bordering on indelicate.

   Never blame society,—it buys books! Now if you could write a smart love-story, slightly risqué,—even a little more than risqué for that matter; that is the sort of thing that suits the present age.

   1895, Marie Corelli, chapter I, in The Sorrows of Satan: or The Strange Experience of One Geoffrey Tempest, Millionaire […], London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 5

   5 more examples

   [S]he was angry with herself; and, for that, sang the more loudly the most wicked and risqué of her slang songs, that gave the morals of a Messalina in the language of a fish-wife, and yet had an inalienable, mischievous, contagious, dauntless French grace in it withal.

   1867, Ouida [pseudonym; Maria Louise Ramé], “Cigarette en Bienfaitrice”, in Under Two Flags: A Story of the Household and the Desert. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 121

   Therefore he placed along with this couple who had become one, Margaret, the gamesome lady's-maid, who is risquée in her talk with her mistress, and has Borachio as a lover—so anxious is [William] Shakespeare for variety of character and of life.

   1913, Stopford A[ugustus] Brooke, “Much Ado About Nothing”, in Ten More Plays of Shakespeare, London: Constable and Company, →OCLC, page 8

   The housewives of Siena could not believe that such a woman could be very important in the world; but beyond the limits of her native town, in Florence, in Rome, Catherine was already famous for her gifts of prophecy. A woman of strong will, rough and risquée of speech, she declared herself appointed of God to achieve the great purpose of her time—the return of the Holy See to Rome.

   1927, Vicente Blasco Ibañez, “Two Women Scold a Pope”, in Arthur Livingston, transl., The Pope of the Sea: An Historical Medley, New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Company, […], →OCLC, part 1 (The City of the Three Keys), page 119

   Fashion magazines and advertising photographers usually cast her [Candy Jones] in tweeds, but she prefers long slinky dresses slit to the knee and black lace stockings. "I figure I might as well be gay and risquée while I can," she says, with a little tremor in her boyish voice. "I'll be old soon."

   1943 April 10, Dorothy Kilgallen, “The Magic Moniker”, in Collier’s, volume 111, number 15, Springfield, Oh.: The Crowell-Collier Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 51, column 1

   There was something about Klea that made her different from any other woman Khem and Tiye had met at the Temple. Younger than Taret or Ani, she was more bold and risquée. They sensed that beneath her lighthearted facade was a strong-willed, self-confident initiate who could not be fooled or intimidated.

   2004, Page Bryant, “A Time for Amulet Making”, in The Second Coming of the Star Gods: A Visionary Novel, Charlottesville, Va.: Hampton Roads Publishing Company, →ISBN

   Synonyms: raunchy, cheeky, suggestive, daring, naughty, near the knuckle, racy, rorty · Antonyms: unrisqué