Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

salacious

/səˈleɪ.ʃəs/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.46 in modern English

Syllables: sala-cious
IPA: /səˈleɪ.ʃəs/

11

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

3

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Promoting sexual desire or lust.

adj

Lascivious, bawdy, obscene, lewd.

Example Sentences

"utterly salacious"
"salacious gossip"
"salacious details"
"The newspaper published a salacious story about the scandal."
"He was arrested for distributing salacious material."

Etymology

Derived from Latin salāx, salācis (“provocative, lustful”) + -ious, ultimately from saliō + -acious.

Origin

Source language: Latin

Word Breakdown

Root: *sel-, salāx
Suffix: -ious, -acious

Inflected Forms

more salacious (comparative) most salacious (superlative)

Derived Forms

salaciously salaciousness unsalacious

Frequently Paired Words

salacity

Synonyms

ardent hot dirty lubricious lewd obscene raunchy lustful prurient

Rhymes With

gracious spacious tenacious audacious ignatius herbaceous voracious flirtatious vivacious ostentatious fallacious efficacious

Questions

How do you pronounce salacious?: The recorded pronunciation is /səˈleɪ.ʃəs/.
What does salacious mean?: Promoting sexual desire or lust.
Where does salacious come from?: It is traced to Latin.

How to pronounce salacious

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “salacious”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/səˈleɪ.ʃəs/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “salacious”.
Repeat and practice — Say “salacious” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.