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Webster 1913 Edition


Promiscuous

Pro-mis′cu-ous

,
Adj.
[L.
promiscuus
;
pro
before, in place of, for +
miscere
to mix. See
Mix
. ]
1.
Consisting of individuals united in a body or mass without order; mingled; confused; undistinguished;
as, a
promiscuous
crowd or mass
.
A wild, where weeds and flowers
promiscuous
shoot.
Pope.
2.
Distributed or applied without order or discrimination; not restricted to an individual; common; indiscriminate;
as,
promiscuous
love or intercourse
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Promiscuous

PROMIS'CUOUS

,
Adj.
[L.promiscuus; pro and misceo, to mix.]
1.
Mingled; consisting of individuals united in a body or mass without order; confused; undistinguished; as a promiscuous crowd or mass.
A wild where weeds and flow'rs promiscuous shoot.
2.
Common; indiscriminate; not restricted to an individual; as promiscuous love or intercourse.

Definition 2024


promiscuous

promiscuous

English

Adjective

promiscuous (comparative more promiscuous, superlative most promiscuous)

  1. Made up of various disparate elements mixed together; of disorderly composition.
    • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 1, ll. 379-80
      Came singly where he stood on the bare strand, / While the promiscuous croud stood yet aloof.
    • 1871–72, George Eliot, Middlemarch, Chapter 1
      they had both been educated [] on plans at once narrow and promiscuous, first in an English family and afterwards in a Swiss family at Lausanne, their bachelor uncle and guardian trying in this way to remedy the disadvantages of their orphaned condition.
  2. Made without careful choice; indiscriminate.
  3. Indiscriminate in choice of sexual partners.
  4. (networking) The mode in which a NIC gathers all network traffic instead of getting only the traffic intended for it.

Synonyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:promiscuous man
  • See also Wikisaurus:promiscuous woman
  • (made up of various disparate elements): motley

Derived terms

Translations