wanton

1 depicting or referring to sexual matters in a way that is unacceptable in polite society that novel was once regarded as a wanton tale of forbidden love Synonyms bawdy, blue, coarse, crude, dirty, filthy, foul, gross, gutter, impure, indecent, lascivious, lewd, locker-room, nasty, pornographic, porny, profane, raunchy, ribald, smutty, stag, trashy, unprintable, vulgar, obscene, X-ratedRelated Words broad, coarse-grained, gamy (or gamey), off, off-color (or off-colored), racy, risqué, salacious, salty, suggestive; barnyard, earthy, scatological; immodest, indecorous, indelicate, low, unbecoming; depraved, kinky, louche, naughty, perverse, perverted, wicked; exceptionable, objectionable, unacceptable, undesirable, unwanted, unwelcome; abhorrent, debasing, disgusting, loathsome, offensive, repellent (also repellant), repugnant, repulsive, revolting; distasteful, obnoxious, unpleasant; blamable, blameworthy, censurable, reprehensible; atrocious, infamous; abusive, scurrilous; hard-core, soft, soft-coreNear Antonyms priggish, prim, prudish, puritanical, staid, straitlaced (or straightlaced), Victorian; correct, decorous, genteel, nice, polite, proper, respectable, seemly; innocuous, inoffensive; acceptable, agreeable, desirable, pleasant, pleasing, welcome; appropriate, becoming, fit, meet, suitable; immaculate, perfect, pure, spotless, virginal; approved, endorsed (also indorsed), sanctionedAntonyms clean, decent, G-rated, nonobscene, wholesome

2 having a strong sexual desire in earlier times, novelists usually portrayed wanton women as coming to a bad end Synonyms concupiscent, goatish, horny, hot, hypersexual, itchy, lascivious, lecherous, lewd, libidinous, licentious, lubricious (or lubricous), oversexed, passionate, randy, salacious, satyric, lustfulRelated Words aroused, excited; easy, fast, loose, promiscuous; dissipated, dissolute, libertine; corrupt, debased, debauched, decadent, degenerate, degraded, demoralized, depraved, dissipated, dissolute, immoral, indecentNear Antonyms celibate, chaste, decent, immaculate, modest, moral, pure, virtuous; monastic, monkish; maidenly, virginal; innocent, lily-white; priggish, prim, prudish, puritanical, straitlaced (or straightlaced), VictorianAntonyms frigid, undersexed

3 having or showing the desire to inflict severe pain and suffering on others a wanton attack on unarmed civilians Synonyms atrocious, barbaric, barbarous, brutal, brute, butcherly, fiendish, heartless, inhuman, inhumane, sadistic, savage, truculent, vicious, cruelRelated Words hard-hearted, ironhearted, merciless, pitiless, ruthless, stonyhearted, unfeeling; fell, ferocious, grim; bloodthirsty, cutthroat, murderous, sanguinary, sanguine; catty, despiteful, hateful, malevolent, malicious, malign, malignant, mean, nasty, spiteful, vindictive; draconian, draconic, hardhanded, harsh, heavy-handed, oppressiveNear Antonyms tender, warm, warmhearted; charitable, clement, lenient, merciful, pitying; pacific, peaceable, peacefulAntonyms benign, benignant, compassionate, good-hearted, humane, kind, kindhearted, sympathetic, tenderhearted

a person who playfully shows another amorous attention at the office party, count on her to get drunk and play the wanton Synonyms flirter, flirtRelated Words coquet; coquette, jade, soubrette; vamp