X-rated

adjective

X-rat·​ed ˈeks-ˈrā-təd How to pronounce X-rated (audio)
1
: having a rating of X
broadly : relating to or characterized by explicit sexual material or activity
an X-rated book
2
: obscene, vulgar
an X-rated gesture

Examples of X-rated in a Sentence

for his comedy-club performances the stand-up comic's routines are definitely X-rated the jerk should have known better than to tell an X-rated joke at a company function
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.
For the first seven years of the rating system (1969-1975), nearly half of the top films (33 of 70) were R- or X-rated. Tom Brueggemann, IndieWire, 26 July 2024 What audiences see are silhouettes engaged in a shadow play of entwined hands and arched backs, sensual but not X-rated. Rebecca Ritzel, Washington Post, 13 Feb. 2024 Granted, none of these are X-rated, but one of my concerns is that the intensity of this online relationship has grown quite exponentially in a very short time and could very well lead to actual X-rated. Amy Dickinson, The Mercury News, 31 Jan. 2024 Keep the red boost light on with your right foot and the Riviera will eventually peak out at 105 mph, although the speedometer is X-rated above 85. Don Sherman, Car and Driver, 8 Mar. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1970, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of X-rated was in 1970

Dictionary Entries Near X-rated

Cite this Entry

“X-rated.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/X-rated. Accessed 29 Nov. 2024.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!