|

raunchy

Something raunchy is dirty in one sense or another: it's either literally covered in dirt or suggesting dirty sexual situations.

Raunchy started off as Army Air Corps slang for something sloppy in 1939. But by the 60's the word had grown to imply another kind of dirtiness: the vulgar, sexual kind. So these days it's safe to assume that a raunchy movie, for example, is full of foul language, obscenities, and graphic sex scenes. And in case you're wondering, an R-rated movie is much more likely to be raunchy than a G movie.

PRIMARY MEANINGS OF: raunchy

1
adj
earthy and sexually explicit
2
adj
thickly covered with ingrained dirt or soot
FULL DEFINITIONS OF: raunchy
1

adj earthy and sexually explicit

“a raunchy novel”
Synonyms
sexy
marked by or tending to arouse sexual desire or interest

adj suggestive of or tending to moral looseness

Synonyms:
lewd, obscene, salacious
dirty
(of behavior or especially language) characterized by obscenity or indecency
2

adj thickly covered with ingrained dirt or soot

Synonyms:
begrimed, dingy, grimy, grubby, grungy
dirty, soiled, unclean
soiled or likely to soil with dirt or grime
WORD FAMILY
USAGE EXAMPLES