prurience
noun
pru·ri·ence
| \ ˈpru̇r-ē-ən(t)s
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Definition of prurience
: the quality or state of being prurient
Examples of prurience in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Gawkers jostle for a viewing, journalists angle for takes; in the crowd, expressions of reverent fascination vie with cynical dismissals and racist prurience. — The New York Review of Books, "Julian Lucas," 21 Feb. 2019 Stories about those who arrive on a therapist’s couch to complain about their love woes may appeal to our instincts for voyeurism, but Mr. Tallis never veers into prurience. — Emily Bobrow, WSJ, "‘The Incurable Romantic’ Review: Truly, Madly, Deeply," 5 Oct. 2018 Months later people are still asking, and not out of mere prurience, what happened to Steven Murphy? — Vicky Ward, Town & Country, "Buyer's Remorse: Inside the Art World's Billion-Dollar Rivalry," 4 Mar. 2015 Descriptions of her are icky either in their prurience or disgust, with a creepy focus on her body. — Alice Bolin, Longreads, "The Daughter as Detective," 26 June 2018 Her name is Nazuna (Suzu Hirose), and the movie continually scrutinizes her body with the sort of prurience that feeds the skeeziest, most stereotypical assumptions about the filmmakers’ chosen medium. — Justin Chang, latimes.com, "Time-travel romance, but no magic, in the Japanese anime 'Fireworks'," 2 July 2018 Easier to transpose it into a key of prurience and wait for the whole thing to stroke itself into exhaustion. — Laurie Penny, Longreads, "We’re Not Done Here," 18 Jan. 2018 But the director, who wrote the script with Chris Bergoch, avoids the traps of condescension and prurience that ensnare too many well-meaning movies about poverty in America. — A. O. Scott, New York Times, "Review: In ‘The Florida Project,’ Enchantment in a Shabby Motel," 5 Oct. 2017 Trump’s journey to the White House would have been inconceivable without the coarseness of the Clinton years, a coarseness equally attributable to popular culture and the newfound web, the president’s scandals and the prurience of his critics. — David Friend, Newsweek, "Before Trump Was President, Online Sex Videos, Bill Clinton and the Naughty '90s Changed America," 7 Sep. 2017These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'prurience.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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