Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

libertine

Pronunciation: /ˈlɪbətiːn, -tɪn, -tʌɪn/

Definition of libertine

noun

  • 1a person, especially a man, who freely indulges in sensual pleasures without regard to moral principles: his image as an unbridled libertine is a total myth
  • 2a freethinker in matters of religion.

adjective

  • 1characterized by free indulgence in sensual pleasures:his more libertine impulses
  • 2freethinking.

Derivatives

libertinage

noun

libertinism

noun

Origin:

late Middle English (denoting a freed slave or the son of one): from Latin libertinus 'freedman', from liber 'free'. In the mid 16th century, imitating French libertin, the term denoted a member of any of various antinomian sects in France; hence libertine (sense 2 of the noun)

libertine in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of libertine in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

  |  Cite

Word of the day

kempt

/ kem(p)t /
adjective
maintained in a neat and clean condition …