pedophilia

noun pe·do·phil·ia \ ˌpe-də-ˈfi-lē-ə , ˌpē- \

|Updated on: 10 Jul 2018

: sexual perversion in which children are the preferred sexual object; specifically : a psychiatric disorder in which an adult has sexual fantasies about or engages in sexual acts with a prepubescent child

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pedophiliac

play \ˌpe-də-ˈfi-lē-ˌak, ˌpē-\ or pedophilic play \ˌpe-də-ˈfi-lik, ˌpē-\ adjective

See pedophilia defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of pedophilia from the Web

The video of the performance, which saw the mother and daughter touching Schwartz's hand and feet and crawling around his body, was captured by a spectator and led to protests claiming the exhibit promotes pedophilia.

— Houston Chronicle, "On the go: Pub crawls and Vince Young signs autographs," 3 July 2018
Even worse, Ross, as well as a number of other fans and creators, noticed that ads for the Alliance Defending Freedom—an organization that has linked homosexuality to pedophilia—were running on LGBTQ videos.

— louise matsakis, WIRED, "YouTube Will Help Creators Make Money With More Than Just Ads," 21 June 2018
Sexbot proponents, meanwhile, make similar claims regarding the potential beneficial treatments for pedophilia.

— beth mole, Ars Technica, "Sex robots with health benefits are a giant tease, experts warn," 5 June 2018
Larson handed in 1,000 signatures supporting his candidacy, Maybe all of them hadn’t read up on his pedophilia beliefs, his court case in Colorado when he was denied all visitation with his young daughter.

— petula dvorak, Washington Post, "Beelzebub on the ballot: Nathan Larson and the scary guys running for Congress," 4 June 2018
Some parents go as far as calling the scenes pedophilia grooming.

— sonja haller, USA TODAY, "Parents are warning that 'Show Dogs' portrays sexual abuse and is not OK for kids," 22 May 2018
In the last two years, five other foreign men, including Mr. Dalglish, 60, have been arrested on suspicion of pedophilia, Mr. Karki said.

— New York Times, "Noted Humanitarian Charged With Child Rape in Nepal, Stunning a Village," 11 May 2018
An Australian inquiry into child abuse recommended in December that the Catholic Church lift its demand of celibacy from clergy and that priests be prosecuted for failing to report evidence of pedophilia heard in the confessional.

— rod mcguirk, USA TODAY, "Australian archbishop steps down after cover-up conviction," 23 May 2018
An Australian inquiry into child abuse recommended in December that the Catholic Church lift its demand of celibacy from clergy and that priests be prosecuted for failing to report evidence of pedophilia heard in the confessional.

— rod mcguirk, BostonGlobe.com, "Australian archbishop steps down after cover-up conviction," 23 May 2018

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