indecency

UK/ɪnˈdiːsənsi/US/ɪnˈdiːsənsi/

nounC1Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speech — decent sits at #1,152neutralformal · an editor’s judgement

Other forms: indecencies

Indecency is behaviour that shocks people as rude or improper. Usually about the body, and usually in public.

The word does most of its work in law, where it is precise rather than prudish: gross indecency and public indecency have been criminal offences, and courts have spent a century arguing about where the line falls. Outside law it stretches to any breach of decency — the indecency of celebrating too soon, the indecency of the question. What counts changes fast between one generation and the next, which is exactly why the word keeps needing definition. The adjective is indecent, and its opposite is decency.

Definitions of indecency

1nounindecencyBehaviour that offends accepted standards of decency, especially sexually.C1
“He was charged with indecency in a public place.”

Where it comes from

Proto-Indo-European
*deḱ- — to take, accept, to receive, greet, be suitable
Latin
decēns
Middle French
décent
English
decent
English, today
indecency

Built from

decet · Latin — it is fitting or suitable
δέχομαι · Ancient Greek — to accept
दाशति · Sanskrit — makes offerings, bestows

From in + decent + cy. decent Middle French décent, or its source, Latin decēns, present participle of decet (“it is fitting or suitable”), from Proto-Indo-European deḱ- (“to take, accept, to receive, greet, be suitable”) (compare Ancient Greek δοκέω (“to appear, seem, think”), δέχομαι (“to accept”); Sanskrit दशस्यति (“shows honor, is gracious”), दाशति (“makes offerings, bestows”)). Meaning ‘kind, pleasant’ is from 1902.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 6 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

indecency in the wild

In some countries, exposure of the body in breach of community standards of modesty is also considered to be public indecency.
Indecent exposure
Some jurisdictions refer to some forms of penetration as "acts of indecency", or other terminology.
Sexual penetration
Gross indecency is a crime in some parts of the English-speaking world, originally used to criminalize sexual activity between men that fell short of sodomy, which required penetration.
Gross indecency
In 1960 he was convicted on eighteen charges of gross indecency and sentenced to four years' imprisonment.
Everett Klippert
The Act made it a crime to incite or commit an "act of gross indecency" with somebody under the age of fourteen.
Indecency with Children Act 1960

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the decet family

decent

indecency — used too rare to measure · point at the bar for the others

decency

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