voluptuous
English
Etymology
From Middle French voluptueux, from Latin voluptuōsus (“delightful”), from voluptās (“pleasure, delight”), from volup (“with pleasure”).
Pronunciation
- (US) IPA(key): /vəˈlʌp.t͡ʃu.əs/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
Adjective
voluptuous (comparative more voluptuous, superlative most voluptuous)
- Characterized or marked by full, generous, pleasurable sensation.
- The plentiful blankets and the voluptuous pillows of the bed called out to my tired body.
- 1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC:
- Thus we lay, whilst a voluptuous languor possest, and still maintain'd us motionless and fast locked in one another's arms
- 1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), chapter III, in Duty and Inclination: […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 24:
- It was upon riches he founded his claim to importance; riches could alone supply the enjoyments of luxury; those voluptuous pleasures upon which the sensualist refines, and without which life appears but a mere vegetative existence, unproductive of enjoyment.
- (of a woman) Curvaceous and sexually attractive.
- The low neckline of her bodice emphasised her plump, voluptuous figure.
- 2018, Nnedi Okorafor, Who Fears Death, HarperVoyager, page 35:
- She was very dark skinned and has a voluptuous figure that she showed off with her stylish purple dress.
Synonyms
- (pleasurable sensation): luxurious
- (curvaceous): See Thesaurus:voluptuous or Thesaurus:sexy
Derived terms
Related terms
English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *welh₁- (0 c, 15 e)
Translations
suggestive of or characterized by full, generous, pleasurable sensation
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curvaceous and sexually attractive
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Further reading
- “voluptuous”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “voluptuous”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “voluptuous”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
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