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scabrous

scabrous

1 9.9
About sexual or indecent topics that shock people
  • adjective
  • /ˈskæbrəs/
  • Offensive
translation icon : escabroso
  • Many critics found her scabrous novel too explicit for mainstream readers, calling it indecent.
  • scabrous humor

Examples

  • His scabrous remarks during the interview shocked the audience and sparked widespread debate.

  • I used to think Loria was a dead-eyed grave robber, a fit replacement for that scabrous garbageman Wayne Huizenga.

    Blog text (15)
  • But despite her scabrous delivery, it turns out K$ is all about love and unity.

    Blog text (34)
  • All this is the kind of scabrous wit that readers of the Great Contrarian have come to relish.

    Blog text (21)
  • Only a scabrous joke, a final appeal to Parmeno's lower instincts, provokes a response, whose essence is betrayed by laughter.

    Academic text (1995)
  • Much of this discourse was necessarily apologetic and polemical; some of it was intemperate and scabrous, even revolutionary, in intent and implication.

    Academic text (2006)
  • Furthermore, his scabrous exhibitionism and his salacious song solidify his identification with sexuality and with the most banal aspects of this universal preoccupation.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Procopius's works are the detailed History of the Wars, the more candid—not to say scabrous—Secret History, and a laudatory description of Justinian's building activity, the Buildings.

    Academic text (1997)
  • The scabrous object of my affection, viz. Zippy de Doodah, left daily at daybreak to wrench, ratchet, and render his fingernails unsightlier.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • The comedian is known for his scabrous jokes that push the boundaries of good taste.

Synonyms

raunchy
vsscabrous
  • Offensive
17 8.6

Content about sex that is rude and shocking

is focused on salacious or artistic indecency rather than crude shock
scuzzy
vsscabrous
  • Offensive
4 8.6

Dirty and unpleasant, like a place with sticky floors

is about salacious indecency in art or literature rather than physical dirtiness
squalid
vsscabrous
2 8.0

Having very low moral standards

is narrowly about salacious or risqué content, not general moral decay

Antonyms

71 3.1

Helps your body and mind stay healthy

65 2.7

Modest in behavior or dress so it does not seem sexual

Compounds

scabrous detail
  • Offensive
9.9

Shocking sexual or offensive details about someone's private life

How Indecent

obscene
  • Offensive
33 6.2
salacious
  • Offensive
24 9.9
scabrous
  • Offensive
1 9.9
racy
  • NSFW
18 7.9
suggestive
  • Offensive
9 6.0

Surface Forms

scabrous positive

Morphology

scabrous = scab (semi-transparent) = scab + rous

The 'indecent' or 'salacious' sense is a figurative extension from the literal idea of 'scab-like' unpleasantness; the connection exists historically but is not directly inferable by an average B1 learner.

Etymology

Scabrous also came from the same Latin root scaber and the English word scab, because a scab is something unpleasant to see. So scabrous can describe writing or speech that is 'indecent' or 'risqué'.