libertine

American  

[lib-er-teen, -tin] / ˈlɪb ərˌtin, -tɪn /

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.

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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 British  

/ ˈlɪbəˌtiːn, -ˌtaɪn /

noun

1. a morally dissolute person

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adjective

1. morally dissolute

Other Word Forms

• libertinage noun

Etymology

Origin of libertine

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

Example Sentences

In 2004, Mr. Ziegler’s “Man of Letters” chronicled maverick British publisher Rupert Hart-Davis, who edited the first edition of the collected letters of Oscar Wilde that shed new light on the libertine writer.

From Washington Post • Mar. 1, 2023

As a native New Yorker, Lauren would have seen California’s well-manicured image of libertine paradise often.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 9, 2022

As a young man, the real Cyrano was taught by the idiosyncratic polymath Pierre Gassendi and mixed in free-thinking "libertine" circles.

From Salon • Feb. 28, 2022

The autonomous German-speaking province in the Dolomite mountains borders newly locked down Austria and has long harbored a certain libertine sentiment.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 24, 2021

The transition from libertine to prig was so complete.

From " The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald