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
-
Lawsuit alleges 'obscene' government overreach Longo's lawsuit, filed in Chemung County, New York, names the county, the city of Elmira and several DEC officers as defendants.—
Jeanine Santucci,
USA Today,
12 July 2025
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The court acknowledged that protecting minors from material that would be considered obscene from their perspective was a compelling government interest.—
Noah Feldman,
Mercury News,
5 July 2025
Adjective
-
Aubrey Beardsley cribbed the oversized phalluses of his erotic drawings from Japanese shunga prints.—
Julian Lucas,
New Yorker,
15 July 2025
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Her complicated desire for K—erotic in nature, and yet based in a childlike longing for approval—produces an irrecuperable psychic fissure.—
Rachel Vorona Cote,
The Atlantic,
15 July 2025
Adjective
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Because at the time, Madonna was seen as this controversial and sort of vulgar character.—
Terry Gross,
NPR,
17 July 2025
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Users must also opt-in to see the vulgar version of Bad Rudi, rather than a more family-friendly version known simply as Rudi.—
David Ingram,
NBC news,
15 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“X-rated.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/X-rated. Accessed 31 Jul. 2025.
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