ENTRY NO. 0246 EXAMINED 2026-09-26 2 CONFIGURATIONS ON FILE

PROMISCUOUS

01 SEXUALLY NON-EXCLUSIVE 02 INDISCRIMINATE MIXING
SENSE 01 adjective PREVALENCE 90%

sexually non-exclusive

Having multiple sexual partners without commitment, and somehow still doing more cultural heavy lifting than any adjective should.
1

Variations

  • promiscuity
  • promiscuously
  • promiscuousness
2

Origin

From Latin promiscuus, 'mixed, indiscriminate' (pro- + miscere, 'to mix'), entering English in the 1600s to describe anything undifferentiated or jumbled together. The sexual meaning calcified over the 19th and 20th centuries as the word narrowed from 'indiscriminate in general' to 'indiscriminate specifically about who you sleep with' — linguistic mission creep with a moral agenda.

3

Examples

"He's always been open about being promiscuous, seeing no reason to apologize for it."
"The study found no correlation between promiscuous behavior and personality traits, contrary to the tabloid narrative."
"She rejected the label outright, noting that a man with her exact dating history gets called 'experienced,' not 'promiscuous.'"
4

Cultural context

The word carries a built-in judgment that lands unevenly by gender — same behavior, different adjective, as generations of double-standard critiques have pointed out. Useful in clinical, academic, or pointedly ironic contexts; risky as a casual descriptor since it rarely arrives without a side of moral commentary.

SENSE 02 adjective PREVALENCE 10%

indiscriminate mixing

When your influences hook up with everything and refuse to commit to a genre.
1

Variations

  • promiscuously
  • promiscuity (of style)
  • genre-promiscuous
2

Origin

From Latin promiscuus, 'mixed, indiscriminate,' built from pro- plus miscere, 'to mix.' The sexual sense colonized the word so thoroughly that this older meaning now survives mostly in academic prose, like a dialect spoken only by professors and liner-note writers.

3

Examples

"The album is promiscuous in its influences, veering from bossa nova to black metal without apology."
"Critics called his prose style promiscuous, borrowing freely from Latinate diction and street slang in the same sentence."
"Her curriculum was promiscuously interdisciplinary, refusing to stay parked in one department."
4

Cultural context

Deployed in literary criticism, musicology, and cultural studies to praise (or gently critique) work that borrows from everywhere without hierarchy or shame. Fine in a seminar room, a small liability at a dinner party where half the table assumes you're gossiping.

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