Word.ws English Dictionary

libertinism

libertinism noun: a lifestyle or pattern of behavior characterized by self-indulgence and lack of restraint, especially one involving sexual promiscuity and rejection of religious or other moral authority.

Noun

libertinism (countable and uncountable, plural libertinisms)

  1. A lifestyle or pattern of behavior characterized by self-indulgence and lack of restraint, especially one involving sexual promiscuity and rejection of religious or other moral authority.
    • [T]he lord made a boaſt of his libertiniſm, and frequently avowed that he held all women to be fair game (as his lordſhip ſtyled this pretty ſport), and that they were all, without exception, to be won.1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, “My Lord Leaves Us and His Evil Behind Him”, in The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. […] , volume I, London: […] Smith, Elder, & Company, […], →OCLC, page 299
    • Instead of being a hardy body of "monk-knights," […] they led a life of luxury and libertinism, and were to be found in the most voluptuous courts of Europe.1855, Washington Irving, “[The Knight of Malta.] The Grand Prior of Minorca. A Veritable Ghost Story.”, in Wolfert’s Roost and Other Papers, […], New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam & Co., […]...

libertinism meaning in Tamil and Arabic

libertinism in Tamil

கட்டற்ற சிந்தனையுரிமை

libertinism in Arabic

behavior characterized by self-indulgence and lack of restraint
إِبَاحِيَّة ʔibāḥiyya

Examples of libertinism in a sentence

  • Only on college campuses do remnants of libertinism linger.1990 July 16, David Gross, Sophfronia Scott, “Proceeding With Caution”, in Time:
  • To facilitate their counter-attack, the targets of this critique sought to reduce the plurality of libertinisms to a simple libertine personality.1993, Peter N. Miller, “‘Freethinking’ and ‘Freedom of Thought’ in Eighteenth-Century Britain”, in The Historical Journal, volume 36...

Forms of libertinism

plurallibertinisms

Origin of libertinism

From libertine + -ism.

Questions about libertinism

What does libertinism mean?
Libertinism means a lifestyle or pattern of behavior characterized by self-indulgence and lack of restraint, especially one involving sexual promiscuity and rejection of religious or other moral authority.
What is libertinism in Tamil?
Libertinism in Tamil is கட்டற்ற சிந்தனையுரிமை. See Libertinism meaning in Tamil.
How do you use libertinism in a sentence?
Only on college campuses do remnants of libertinism linger.
What part of speech is libertinism?
Libertinism is a noun.
What is the plural of libertinism?
The plural of libertinism is libertinisms.

Words near libertinism in the dictionary

  1. liberties
  2. libertinage
  3. libertinages
  4. libertine
  5. libertines
  6. libertinism
  7. libertinisms
  8. Libertis
  9. Liberto
  10. libertoon
  11. libertoons

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: libertinism (page history and authors); libertinism (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “libertinism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/libertinism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.