orgy

noun or·gy \ ˈȯr-jē \

|Updated on: 17 Aug 2018

Definition of orgy

plural orgies

1 : secret ceremonial rites held in honor of an ancient Greek or Roman deity and usually characterized by ecstatic singing and dancing

Roman orgies in honor of Bacchus

2 a : drunken revelry

b : a sexual encounter involving many people; also : an excessive sexual indulgence (see indulgence 4a)

3 : excessive indulgence (see indulgence 4a) in something especially to satisfy an inordinate appetite or craving

an orgy of destruction

a national orgy of thrill seeking and risk taking
—K. T. Greenfeld

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Recent Examples of orgy from the Web

McCoy is certain that the victims’ deaths can be traced to the door of the richest family in Glasgow—whose ice-cold patriarch and his wastrel son are rumored to host orgies laced with drugs and sadism.

— tom nolan, WSJ, "Mysteries: Glaswegian Goons," 4 May 2018
Of course, Logan doesn't interact with women in a platonic capacity, so the night ends with an orgy.

— refinery29.com, "Westworld Season 2, Episode 2 Recap: What The Hell Is "Glory"?," 30 Apr. 2018
An ordinary teenage boy discovers his family is part of a gruesome orgy cult for the social elite.

— Houston Chronicle, "Outside the Cineplex: 'Dangerous Liaisons' and 'Spaceballs'," 6 June 2018
Around 540 million years ago, the oldest ancestors of almost every living creature on Earth burst onto the scene during an orgy of evolution known as the Cambrian Explosion.

— jason daley, Smithsonian, "Oldest Footprints Show When Life On Earth Got Legs," 11 June 2018
The win, which will bring about a hopeful future for themselves and for their kind, was celebrated with the inclusive wedding between Nomi (Jamie Clayton) and Amanita (Freema Agyeman) and topped off with the biggest orgy scene yet of the series.

— jackie strause, The Hollywood Reporter, "'Sense8' Boss Unpacks "Joyous" Series Finale," 10 June 2018
Yet Wolfe wasn’t always, to borrow the title of a Nora Ephron book, merely a wallflower at the orgy.

— dwight garner, New York Times, "Tom Wolfe Kept a Close, Comical and Astonished Eye on America," 15 May 2018
Falsely portraying this young girl and child star as a raging homicidal bigot is heinous, and Brown deleting her Twitter to avoid this maelstrom is a logical response to the internet’s festering orgy of toilet humor.

— alex abad-santos, Vox, "How the “homophobic Millie Bobby Brown” meme made the actress quit Twitter.," 14 June 2018
The last decades of the 19th century were a veritable orgy of territorial expansion and scientific discovery.

— marcus overton, sandiegouniontribune.com, "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus close season with trademark eclecticism," 10 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'orgy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Unsexy orgies

Orgy is a word which for many immediately conjures salacious imagery and blushed cheeks. However, both the oldest and the most recently-adopted senses of this word contain meanings which may not be at all sexual in nature. The word first came into English in the middle of the 16th century in reference to secret ceremonial rites, particularly those of the Romans and ancient Greeks, which involved singing and dancing. The licentious meaning was not added until the beginning of the 18th century. And the most recent senses (“a riotous display” and “a manifestation of extreme indulgence”), which may describe such things as an assembly of garish colors or a spectacle of destruction, appear to date from the late 19th century.