indecency
(ɪnˈdiːsənsɪ)
[ad. L. indecēntia, n. of quality f. indecēnt-em: see next and -ency.]
The quality of being indecent.
1. Unseemliness, unbecomingness; unbecoming or outrageous conduct.
| 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxiii. (Arb.) 279 As rude and vnciuill speaches carry a marueilous great indecencie, so doe sometimes those that be ouermuch affected and nice. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 126 An act not only of indecency, but of injustice and ingratitude against God and Nature. 1702 Eng. Theophrast. 104 We must not be too familiar with Inferiors by reason of indecency. a 1814 Ld. N. Spencer in Ld. Auckland's Corr. (1862) III. 261 The indecency of excluding and proscribing the English at the same time that other strangers are received. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 453 The disgrace which the barbarity and indecency of so great a functionary brought upon the administration of justice. |
b. With an and pl. An instance of this; an unbecoming or unseemly action, trait, etc.
| 1639 Fuller Holy War iii. ii. (1647) 112 These Bishops..were fain to descend to many indecencies and indignities to support themselves. 1650 Hobbes Answ. Pref. Gondibert Wks. (1840) IV. 454 Of the indecencies of an heroic poem, the most remarkable are those that show disproportion either between the persons and their actions, or between the manners of the poet and the poem. 1675 Traherne Chr. Ethics 422 A discontented mind..throws a man into all the indecencies of avarice, ambition [etc.]. |
† 2. Uncomeliness of form. Obs.
| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. ii. i. Ark 567 Th' unpleasing blemish of deformed marks; As lips too great, or hollownesse of eyes, Or sinking nose, or such indecencies. 1648 Herrick Hesper., To Perenna, When I thy parts runne ore, I can't espie In any one, the least indecencie. |
3. A condition which offends against personal delicacy or the recognized standards of propriety; immodesty; a quality savouring of obscenity.
| 1692 E. Walker Epictetus' Mor. xli, If vain, or frivolous the Converse be, Or seem to savour of Indecency, Alter the Subject. 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Addison Wks. III. 84 No greater felicity can genius attain than that of having purified intellectual pleasure, separated mirth from in⁓decency and wit from licentiousness. 1802 J. Bowles (title) Modern Female Manners, as distinguished by In⁓difference to Character, and Indecency of Dress. 1871 Darwin Desc. Man i. iv. (ed. 2) 119 The hatred of indecency..is a modern virtue. |
b. With an and pl. Something indecent; esp. an indecent act, an offence against decency.
| 1774 Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry xvi. (1840) II. 190 Various freedoms and indecencies unsuitable to the sex. 1790 Beattie Moral Sc. i. ii. §5 (R.) Profane talkers, lewd jesters, and they who, by speech or writing, present to the ear or to the eye of modesty any of the indecencies I allude to, are pests of society. 1885 Law Times Rep. LII. 317/1 That is an indecency which could not have been intended. |