libertine

[ lib-er-teen, -tin ]

noun

1. a person who is morally or sexually unrestrained, especially a dissolute man; a profligate; rake.

   Synonyms: sensualist, lecher, debauchee, roué

   Antonyms: prude

2. a freethinker in religious matters.
3. a person freed from slavery in ancient Rome.

adjective

1. free of moral, especially sexual, restraint; dissolute; licentious.

   Synonyms: lewd, lascivious, sensual, amoral

2. freethinking in religious matters.
3. Archaic. unrestrained; uncontrolled.

libertine

/ ˈlɪbəˌtiːn; -ˌtaɪn /

noun

1. a morally dissolute person

adjective

1. morally dissolute

Derived Forms

• ˈliberˌtinage, noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of libertine¹

1350–1400; Middle English libertyn < Latin lībertīnus of a freedman (adj.), freedman (noun), equivalent to lībert ( us ) freedman (apparently by reanalysis of liber-tās liberty as libert-ās ) + -īnus -ine ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of libertine¹

C14 (in the sense: freedman, dissolute person): from Latin lībertīnus freedman, from lībertus freed, from līber free

Example Sentences

That view treats Middle America as a catchall for sensibility, moral uprightness and a mythical strain of virtue incorrectly believed to be absent from the supposedly libertine coasts or in large cities.

From Salon

Some conservative critics tried to paint Westheimer as a libertine because she did not disapprove of sex without marriage, was accepting of homosexuality and urged safe-sex habits.

From Los Angeles Times

Moore bathes the story’s sentiment in Mary’s worldview, an alluring combination of libertine and pragmatic with little desire to win friends, only influence – the type of woman Bravo’s Andy Cohen would kill to cast if she didn’t arrange for his end first.

From Salon

Trump, 77, has a libertine past, a salesman’s flair and an extraordinary instinct for insult.

From Seattle Times

But it's quite clear from the polling that most conservative evangelical Christians like the libertine, gutter-snipe Donald Trump even more than the rest of the Republican Party.

From Salon