Word: debauchery
Pronunciation: di-BAH-chə-ree
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures
Source: Oxford Dictionaries
Last week, I talked about a word for someone who lives by the philosophy of enjoying the fine things in life while still maintaining a modest lifestyle. But what if you wanted to refer to an overindulgence in such pleasures? That’s when you’d step out of the realm of Epicureanism and into the territory of “debauchery”.
“Debauchery” is the act of excessively indulging in sensual pleasures. The word is derived from the verb “debauch”, which means “to morally corrupt”. This verb can be traced back through the Middle French verb desbaucher “to entice from one’s duty” to the Old French verb desbauchier “to lead astray”, which in turn likely comes from the Proto-Germanic noun balkô “balk”.
While “debauchery” can refer to any sort of overindulgence in sensual enjoyment, the word is most commonly associated with scandals involving physical gratification and substance abuse. A somewhat dated sub-definition of the verb “debauch” is “to seduce”, and it can also function as a noun to denote “an individual act of debauchery”. Writers, take note: if your characters seek enjoyment in moderation, you may be writing “epicureans”, but if they go over the top with these pleasures, then “debauchery” may be afoot in your stories! Choose your nouns wisely!
What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?
Mathair and I became very comfortable with the word debauchery while writing The Perfect 7. Haha Just saying the word out loud evokes a kind of seduction so your breakdown of the word was spot on, JC. 😀 Though Mathair and I were discussing your post, we realized that a lot of authors use that word lightly. Debauchery is such an extreme level that we feel it should only be used to describe extreme purposes and yet it’s thrown around a lot. Awesome word and awesome post, JC. Have a great week. 🙂
Good point! “Debauchery” does seem to be used lightly by many writers. I like how the word seems to have strong connotations of temptation and seduction, so I agree that it works best in extreme cases of overindulgence. Glad you enjoyed the post! Thanks for reading! Have a great week! 🙂