1
as in pornographic
dealing in or with explicitly sexual material
for his comedy-club performances the stand-up comic's routines are definitely X-rated
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in obscene
depicting or referring to sexual matters in a way that is unacceptable in polite society
the jerk should have known better than to tell an X-rated joke at a company function
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of X-rated
For the first seven years of the rating system (1969-1975), nearly half of the top films (33 of 70) were R- or X-rated.
—
Tom Brueggemann, IndieWire, 26 July 2024
What audiences see are silhouettes engaged in a shadow play of entwined hands and arched backs, sensual but not X-rated.
—Rebecca Ritzel, Washington Post, 13 Feb. 2024
Granted, none of these are X-rated, but one of my concerns is that the intensity of this online relationship has grown quite exponentially in a very short time and could very well lead to actual X-rated.
—Amy Dickinson, The Mercury News, 31 Jan. 2024
Keep the red boost light on with your right foot and the Riviera will eventually peak out at 105 mph, although the speedometer is X-rated above 85.
—Don Sherman, Car and Driver, 8 Mar. 2023
Tom Brueggemann, IndieWire, 26 July 2024
What audiences see are silhouettes engaged in a shadow play of entwined hands and arched backs, sensual but not X-rated.
—Rebecca Ritzel, Washington Post, 13 Feb. 2024
Granted, none of these are X-rated, but one of my concerns is that the intensity of this online relationship has grown quite exponentially in a very short time and could very well lead to actual X-rated.
—Amy Dickinson, The Mercury News, 31 Jan. 2024
Keep the red boost light on with your right foot and the Riviera will eventually peak out at 105 mph, although the speedometer is X-rated above 85.
—Don Sherman, Car and Driver, 8 Mar. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for X-rated
Adjective
-
Why 'Shrinking' Is a Parents-Only Watch The themes, relationships, and conversations in this show are primarily adult in nature.—
Elisabeth Sherman,
Parents,
27 Feb. 2025
-
The next decades will witness, for the first time, the full impact of one-child families on adult Chinese society.—
Henry A. Kissinger,
Foreign Affairs,
1 Mar. 2012
Adjective
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After the man told the boy to get out of the road, the juvenile responded with cursing and an obscene gesture, the report said.—
Jim Woods,
Chicago Tribune,
15 May 2025
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Stop into any local bakery and ask for their specialty, many of which contain obscene amounts of egg yolks.—
Jess Fleming,
Twin Cities,
26 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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Meanwhile, Chen moved onto other roles, including director Oliver Stone's 1993 film Heaven and Earth and Lee's 2007 erotic drama Lust, Caution.—
Lawrence Yee,
People.com,
10 May 2025
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The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860–1920 by Manisha Sinha Andrew Delbanco The Connoisseur of Desire F. Scott Fitzgerald’s great theme of erotic anticipation is never more alive than in the longings of Jay Gatsby.—
Rachel Nolan,
The New York Review of Books,
9 May 2025
Adjective
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In that sense, the vulgar Vader situation creates a touchy dilemma for Epic Games and Disney, which likely invested substantially in this high-profile collaboration.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
16 May 2025
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Amid the attention, the new pontiff's eldest brother has drawn scrutiny for social media posts praising Trump and using inflammatory, vulgar rhetoric toward Democrats and transgender people.—
Mandy Taheri,
MSNBC Newsweek,
14 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“X-rated.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/X-rated. Accessed 25 May. 2025.
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