promiscuous
- 1Having sex with many different people, especially without caring much who they are.
Some people judged her as promiscuous just because she dated a lot.
Some kinds of birds are promiscuous and do not stay with one partner.
UsageIt can hurt when said about a person. About animals it is neutral.
Similarloose
Oppositemonogamous, faithful, chaste
Note
- 2Done without thinking carefully about what to choose.
The website's promiscuous sharing of user data upset many people.
Her reading was promiscuous: she picked up any book she found.
UsageYou can say promiscuous use of medicine. This sounds formal and shows disapproval.
Similarindiscriminate, careless, haphazard, unselective
Oppositeselective, discriminating, careful
- 3Made of many different things all mixed up together without order.
The drawer was full of a promiscuous mix of pens, keys, and coins.
A promiscuous crowd of students, tourists, and street sellers filled the square.
Similarmotley
Note
- 4Describes a network card set to collect all the data that reaches it, including data meant for other computers.
Turn on promiscuous mode so the program can see all the traffic.
Security software warned us that one computer's network card was running in promiscuous mode.
UsageUsed in promiscuous mode.
Note
Practice
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Origin
From Latin prōmiscuus, meaning “mixed”.