salacious

adjective

sa·​la·​cious sə-ˈlā-shəs How to pronounce salacious (audio)
1
: arousing or appealing to sexual desire or imagination
salacious headlines
salacious lyrics
2
: lecherous, lustful
… have fiercely denounced the book's sketches of melodramatic lovers and salacious partygoers …Casey Greenfield
salaciously adverb
salaciousness noun

Examples of salacious in a Sentence

Lady Worsley's Whim, the story of Lady Worsley and her husband Sir Richard Worsley, is also reconstructed from some well-thumbed texts, in this case trial transcripts and newspaper reports of cases of "Criminal Conversation" which became popular eighteenth-century erotica. Charges … were brought by husbands seeking damages from the purported lovers of their supposedly adulterous wives, and the detail, which needed to be explicit, was frequently salacious. Norma Clarke, Times Literary Supplement, 21 Nov. 2008
From snarky political commentary to salacious "memoirs" that flirt with both fact and fiction, scores of bloggers have gotten the book deal boon—with mixed results at the register. Eunice Lee et al., Hyphen, Winter 2007
There's little difference between the junk mail in your mailbox and the junk e-mail that appears on your monitor, except that the e-mail is often of a salacious nature, e.g., the "hot, live XXX action" available at various dark alleyways on the web. Michael Saunders, Boston Globe, 6 Oct.1997
a song with salacious lyrics the salacious Greek god Pan is generally portrayed as having the legs, horns, and ears of a goat
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Thornton’s notes do, however, contain one single sentence that would seemingly become the catalyst for Murphy’s salacious take on the Menendez brothers and their would-be relationship behind closed doors. Kevin Dolak, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Feb. 2025 Because even when his hands are clasped together in glee, waiting to hear the next part of Elizabeth’s salacious story with bated breath, Hawke plays Hart with an underlying sadness. David Opie, IndieWire, 18 Feb. 2025 Grossly exploiting the trust of their audience and racing to outdo their competition for the most salacious Diddy exposé, defendants maliciously and recklessly broadcast outrageous lies in Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy. Madison Bloom, Pitchfork, 12 Feb. 2025 Who knew that banning books, paying teachers pitiful salaries and threatening them with jail if they were caught with salacious book titles would be the holy grail of student success? Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 11 Feb. 2025 See all Example Sentences for salacious 

Word History

Etymology

Latin salac-, salax, from salire to move spasmodically, leap — more at sally

First Known Use

circa 1645, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of salacious was circa 1645

Dictionary Entries Near salacious

Cite this Entry

“Salacious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/salacious. Accessed 23 Feb. 2025.

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