pedophilia
/ˌpe.dəˈfɪ.li.ə/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.10 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
5
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Sexual attraction by adults and adolescents to children, specifically prepubescent children.
American usage; Countable; Uncountable
noun
Sexual activity between adults and children; the act of child molestation.
American usage; Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "As noted earlier, pedophilia was cited as both an aggravating and a mitigating circumstance by trial judges, as was the absence of pedophilia."
- "Sometimes a man with pedophilia is content to stroke the child's hair, but he may also manipulate the child's genitalia, [...]"
- "Fifteen months later, a committee of the congregation found that he had sexually abused several boys within the congregation. […] The fact that Alger committed pedophilia at the age of thirty-four casts a shadow over his subsequent yearning for relationships with boys and young men, but there is no evidence of any later misconduct."
- "Entire books have been written about the role of scandal in US politics (Garment, 1992). Offenses include smoking marijuana, hiring illegal aliens, plagiarizing, sexually harassing others, engaging in pedophilia, […]"
- "It's quite another (a bad idea) to expect amateurs to figure out who is telling the truth about Iraq, or which priests have committed pedophilia."
- "Although the Holy See publicly expressed its rejection of sexual abuse and pedophilia and expressed its commitment to cooperate with civil authorities when cases of pedophile priests were found¹², there are no known cases of bishops or cardinals, being found responsible for abusing children or covering up for pedophilia in their parishes."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: Pädophilie
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌpe.dəˈfɪ.li.ə/
- British English: /ˌpiː.dəˈfɪ.li.ə/
Usage
- American usage
- Countable
- Uncountable