salacious

adjective sa·la·cious \ sə-ˈlā-shəs \

Updated on: 16 Apr 2018

Definition of salacious

1 : arousing or appealing to sexual desire or imagination

salacious headlines

salacious lyrics

2 : lecherous, lustful

… have fiercely denounced the book's sketches of melodramatic lovers and salacious partygoers …
—Casey Greenfield

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salaciously

adverb

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salaciousness

noun

See salacious defined for English-language learners

Examples of salacious in a Sentence

Lady Worsley's Whim, the story of Lady Worsley and her husband Sir Richard Worsley, is also reconstructed from some well-thumbed texts, in this case trial transcripts and newspaper reports of cases of "Criminal Conversation" which became popular eighteenth-century erotica. Charges … were brought by husbands seeking damages from the purported lovers of their supposedly adulterous wives, and the detail, which needed to be explicit, was frequently salacious. —Norma Clarke, Times Literary Supplement, 21 Nov. 2008
From snarky political commentary to salacious "memoirs" that flirt with both fact and fiction, scores of bloggers have gotten the book deal boon—with mixed results at the register. —Eunice Lee et al., Hyphen, Winter 2007
There's little difference between the junk mail in your mailbox and the junk e-mail that appears on your monitor, except that the e-mail is often of a salacious nature, e.g., the "hot, live XXX action" available at various dark alleyways on the web. —Michael Saunders, Boston Globe, 6 Oct.1997
a song with salacious lyrics
the salacious Greek god Pan is generally portrayed as having the legs, horns, and ears of a goat

Recent Examples of salacious from the Web

Some are salacious, others are stunning and some are just plain surreal.

— chris cillizza, CNN, "The 11 most eye-opening lines in James Comey's 'A Higher Loyalty,' ranked," 13 Apr. 2018
Not the salacious, dramatic, second-hand charge of Berryman’s misadventures and remorse, of Cheever deserting his family to drink unfettered, of Rhys getting drunk while her baby dies.

— sophie gilbert, The Atlantic, "Writing and Alcohol: A Reckoning," 6 Apr. 2018
There are no secrets nor salacious events at the root of our decision — just two best-friends realizing it’s time to take some space and help each other live the most joyous, fulfilled lives as possible.

— kayleigh roberts, Marie Claire, "Jenna Dewan Addresses Rumors That Channing Tatum's Drinking and Flirting Caused Their Divorce," 5 Apr. 2018
There are no secrets nor salacious events at the root of our decision — just two best-friends realizing it’s time to take some space and help each other live the most joyous, fulfilled lives as possible.

— erica gonzales, Harper's BAZAAR, "Channing and Jenna Dewan Tatum Are Separating and Twitter Has Lost Faith in Love," 3 Apr. 2018
There are no secrets nor salacious events at the root of our decision — just two best-friends realizing it’s time to take some space and help each other live the most joyous, fulfilled lives as possible.

— gabe bergado, Teen Vogue, "Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan Announce Separation After Almost 9 Years of Marriage," 3 Apr. 2018
Hillary Clinton’s campaign hired opposition-research firm Fusion GPS to compile a dossier of salacious Trump allegations.

— kimberley a. strassel, WSJ, "Russia, the NRA and Fake News," 22 Mar. 2018
The salacious story has steadily drawn attention, fueled by the willingness of Michael Avenatti, Daniels' lawyer, and Daniels to court the publicity from the scandal.

— eli rosenberg, chicagotribune.com, "CBS plans to air '60 Minutes' interview with Stormy Daniels this weekend," 22 Mar. 2018
The salacious story has steadily drawn attention, fueled by the willingness of Michael Avenatti, Daniels' lawyer, and Daniels to court the publicity from the scandal.

— the washington post, NOLA.com, "Stormy Daniels' '60 Minutes' interview to air Sunday," 22 Mar. 2018

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