Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Libertine
Lib′er-tine
(-tĭn)
, Noun.
[L.
libertinus
freedman, from libertus
one made free, fr. liber
free: cf. F. libertin
. See Liberal
.] 1.
(Rom. Antiq.)
A manumitted slave; a freedman; also, the son of a freedman.
2.
(Eccl. Hist.)
One of a sect of Anabaptists, in the fifteenth and early part of the sixteenth century, who rejected many of the customs and decencies of life, and advocated a community of goods and of women.
3.
One free from restraint; one who acts according to his impulses and desires; now, specifically, one who gives rein to lust; a rake; a debauchee.
Like a puffed and reckless
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads.
libertine
,Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads.
Shakespeare
4.
A defamatory name for a freethinker.
[Obsolescent]
1.
Free from restraint; uncontrolled.
[Obs.]
You are too much
libertine
. Beau. & Fl.
2.
Dissolute; licentious; profligate; loose in morals;
as,
. libertine
principles or mannersBacon.
Webster 1828 Edition
Libertine
LIB'ERTINE
,Noun.
1.
Among the Romans, a freedman; a person manumitted or set free from legal servitude.2.
One unconfined; one free from restraint.3.
A man who lives without restraint of the animal passion; one who indulges his lust without restraint; one who leads a dissolute, licentious life; a rake; a debauchee.LIB'ERTINE
,Adj.
Definition 2025
libertine
libertine
English
Noun
libertine (plural libertines)
- (historical) Someone freed from slavery in Ancient Rome; a freedman.
Etymology 2
Noun
libertine (plural libertines)
- One who is freethinking in religious matters.
- Someone (especially a man) who takes no notice of moral laws, especially those involving sexual propriety; someone loose in morals; a pleasure-seeker.
- 2007, Choderlos de Laclos, Dangerous Liaisons, tr. Helen Constantine, Penguin 2007, p. 123,
- So the truth of the matter is that a libertine in love, if indeed a libertine can be in love, becomes from that moment in less of a hurry to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh.
- 2007, Choderlos de Laclos, Dangerous Liaisons, tr. Helen Constantine, Penguin 2007, p. 123,
Synonyms
- See also Wikisaurus:libertine
Related terms
Adjective
libertine (comparative more libertine, superlative most libertine)
- Dissolute, licentious, profligate; loose in morals.
Related terms
External links
- libertine in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- libertine in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911