different between lewd vs profligate

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English lewed, lewd, leued (“unlearned, lay, lascivious”), from Old English l?wede (“unlearned, ignorant, lay”), of obscure origin; most likely a derivative of the past participle of l?wan (“to reveal, betray”) in the sense of "exposed as being unlearned" or "easily betrayed, clueless", from Proto-Germanic *l?wijan? (“to betray”), from *l?w? (“an opportunity, cause”), from Proto-Indo-European *l?w- (“to leave”). Or, according to the OED, from Vulgar Latin *laigo-, from Late Latin laicus (“of the people”).

Cognate with Old High German gil?en, firl?en (“to betray”), Gothic ???????????????????????????????? (gal?wjan, “to give over, betray”), Gothic ???????????? (l?w, “an opportunity, cause”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /lju?d/
• (US) IPA^(key): /lud/
• enPR: lo?od

• Rhymes: -u?d

• Homophone: leud

Adjective

lewd (comparative lewder, superlative lewdest)

1. Lascivious, sexually promiscuous, rude.
   • 2014 August 11, w:Dave Itzkoff, "Robin Williams, Oscar-Winning Comedian, Dies at 63 in Suspected Suicide," New York Times

     Onstage he was known for ricochet riffs on politics, social issues and cultural matters both high and low; tales of drug and alcohol abuse; lewd commentaries on relations between the sexes; and lightning-like improvisations on anything an audience member might toss at him.

2. (obsolete) Lay; not clerical.
   • 1599, John Davies, Nosce Teipsum

     So these great clerks their little wisdom show / To mock the lewd, as learn'd in this as they.

3. (obsolete) Uneducated.
   • c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Again?t venemous tongues enpoy?oned with ?claunder and fal?e detractions &c.:

     My ?coles are not for unthriftes untaught,
     For frantick faitours half mad and half ?traught;
     But my learning is of another degree
     To taunt theim like liddrons, lewde as thei bee.

4. (obsolete) Vulgar, common; typical of the lower orders.

   • But the Jews, which believed not, […] took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, […] and assaulted the house of Jason.

   • 1829, Robert Southey, Sir Thomas More; or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society

     Too lewd to work, and ready for any kind of mischief.

5. (obsolete) Base, vile, reprehensible.

Derived terms

• lewdsby
• lewdness
• lewdster

Translations

Noun

lewd (plural lewds)

1. A sexually suggestive image, particularly one which does not involve full nudity.
   • 1944, The Saturday Evening Post, volume 217, page 25:

     Nudes, lewds and smutty outhouse cards, although they can be bought in some of the rowdy joints, are a negligible percentage of the total, and are unobtainable in the chain stores, drugstores and travel stations which are the outlets for […]

   • 1996, Cigar Aficionado, page 309:

     […] also put it, he learned “the difference between nudes and lewds."

Verb

lewd (third-person singular simple present lewds, present participle lewding, simple past and past participle lewded)

1. To express lust; to behave in a lewd manner.

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

Etymology 2

Verb

lewd (third-person singular simple present lewds, present participle lewding, simple past and past participle lewded)

1. (slang) Alternative form of lude (“take the drug quaalude”)

Anagrams

• Weld, weld

Middle English

Adjective

lewd

1. Alternative form of lewed

English

Etymology

From Latin pr?fl?g?tus (“wretched, abandoned”), participle of pr?fl?g? (“strike down, cast down”), from pro (“forward”) + fligere (“to strike, dash”).

Pronunciation

• (adjective, noun, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p??fl???t/
• (adjective, noun, US) enPR: pr??fl?g?t, IPA^(key): /?p???fl???t/
• (adjective, noun)
• (verb, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p??fl??e?t/
• (verb, US) enPR: pr??fl?g?t, IPA^(key): /?p???fl??e?t/
• (verb)

Adjective

profligate (comparative more profligate, superlative most profligate)

1. Inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly.

   Synonyms: extravagant, wasteful, prodigal; see also Thesaurus:prodigal

   • 2013, Ben Smith, "[1]", BBC Sport, 19 October 2013:

     Jay Rodriguez headed over and Dani Osvaldo might have done better with only David De Gea to beat and, as Southampton bordered on the profligate, United were far more ruthless.
2. Immoral; abandoned to vice.

   Synonyms: immoral, licentious

   • 1685, John Dryden, To The Pious Memory of the Accomplish'd Young Lady Mrs. Anne Killigrew

     Made prostitute and profligate the muse.
3. (obsolete) Overthrown, ruined.

Derived terms

• profligateness

Translations

Noun

profligate (plural profligates)

1. An abandoned person; one openly and shamelessly vicious; a dissolute person.
2. An overly wasteful or extravagant individual.

   Synonyms: wastrel; see also Thesaurus:spendthrift, Thesaurus:prodigal

Translations

Verb

profligate (third-person singular simple present profligates, present participle profligating, simple past and past participle profligated)

1. (obsolete) To drive away; to overcome.
   • 1840, Alexander Walker, Woman Physiologically Considered as to Mind, Morals, Marriage, Matrimonial Slavery, Infidelity and Divorce, page 157:

     Such a stipulation would remove one powerful temptation to profligate pennyless seducers, of whom there are too many prowling in the higher circles ;

Related terms

• profligacy
• profligately
• profligateness
• profligation

Further reading

• profligate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• profligate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Latin

Adjective

pr?fl?g?te

1. vocative masculine singular of pr?fl?g?tus