salaciousness

plural salaciousnesses

1. uncountableusuallyThe state or characteristic of being salacious.

   […] he began a tale which cannot be retold here, but which delighted the boys as much by its salaciousness as by its vivacity.

   1895, Frank Harris, “The Best Man in Garotte”, in Elder Conklin and Other Stories, London: Heinemann, page 160

   4 more examples

   The cock, from his salaciousness, is allowed to be a short lived animal; but how long these birds live, if left to themselves, is not yet well ascertained by any historian.

   1774, Oliver Goldsmith, An History of the Earth and Animated Nature, London: J. Nourse, Volume 5, Part 2, Chapter 2, p. 170

   I giggle with the most revolting salaciousness over La Vie Parisienne, when I get hold of one in Chicago, yet I shouldn’t even try to hold your hand.

   1920, Sinclair Lewis, chapter XIII, in Main Street: The Story of Carol Kennicott, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Howe, →OCLC, page 158

   Fokine did not mince words in describing the infamous closing moments of the ballet [L’Après-midi d’un faune], charging that Diaghilev used Nijinski as nothing more than a tool to shock his audience. He hinted that scandal was Diaghilev’s goal, for salaciousness would attract an audience.

   2002, Charles M. Joseph, chapter 2, in Stravinsky and Balanchine: A Journey of Invention, New Haven: Yale University Press, page 51

   […] he actually used the word erotic, snagging his tongue on it as though the salaciousness of the syllables themselves was enough to arouse him […]

   2010, Howard Jacobson, The Finkler Question, New York: Bloomsbury, Part One, Chapter 3, p. 20

   Synonyms: bawdiness, indecency, lasciviousness, lewdness, salacity