salacious
adjective
sa·la·cious
sə-ˈlā-shəs 
1
: arousing or appealing to sexual desire or imagination
salacious headlines
salacious lyrics
salaciously
adverb
salaciousness
noun
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
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 on the Web
This salacious historical miniseries depicts Countess Mary Villiers and her efforts to propel her son George forward by any means necessary.
—Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly, 25 Feb. 2026
The list, collected from the FBI's National Threat Operations Center, included numerous salacious allegations.
—Stephen Fowler, NPR, 24 Feb. 2026
The salacious charges, all leveled by men, made their way into a criminal case against Ebel, though none of the allegations could be substantiated in court.
—Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 24 Feb. 2026
The free flow of information is the lifeblood of the world’s third largest financial center, after New York and London, and Apple Daily — for all its lurid crime stories and salacious gossip — was among a litany of outlets holding government officials to account.
—Andy Browne, semafor.com, 16 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for salacious
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Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly, 25 Feb. 2026
The list, collected from the FBI's National Threat Operations Center, included numerous salacious allegations.
—Stephen Fowler, NPR, 24 Feb. 2026
The salacious charges, all leveled by men, made their way into a criminal case against Ebel, though none of the allegations could be substantiated in court.
—Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 24 Feb. 2026
The free flow of information is the lifeblood of the world’s third largest financial center, after New York and London, and Apple Daily — for all its lurid crime stories and salacious gossip — was among a litany of outlets holding government officials to account.
—Andy Browne, semafor.com, 16 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for salacious
Cite this Entry
“Salacious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/salacious. Accessed 6 Mar. 2026.
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