1
as in pornographic
dealing in or with explicitly sexual material
for his comedy-club performances the stand-up comic's routines are definitely X-rated
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in obscene
depicting or referring to sexual matters in a way that is unacceptable in polite society
the jerk should have known better than to tell an X-rated joke at a company function
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of X-rated
The content of its productions has included legitimate theater, vaudeville, burlesque, striptease, movies (many X-rated), classical music and jazz as well as occasional forays into boxing, bodybuilding and politics.
—
Dan Kelly, Kansas City Star, 21 Sep. 2025
For the first seven years of the rating system (1969-1975), nearly half of the top films (33 of 70) were R- or X-rated.
—Tom Brueggemann, IndieWire, 26 July 2024
What audiences see are silhouettes engaged in a shadow play of entwined hands and arched backs, sensual but not X-rated.
—Rebecca Ritzel, Washington Post, 13 Feb. 2024
Granted, none of these are X-rated, but one of my concerns is that the intensity of this online relationship has grown quite exponentially in a very short time and could very well lead to actual X-rated.
—Amy Dickinson, The Mercury News, 31 Jan. 2024
Keep the red boost light on with your right foot and the Riviera will eventually peak out at 105 mph, although the speedometer is X-rated above 85.
—Don Sherman, Car and Driver, 8 Mar. 2023
Dan Kelly, Kansas City Star, 21 Sep. 2025
For the first seven years of the rating system (1969-1975), nearly half of the top films (33 of 70) were R- or X-rated.
—Tom Brueggemann, IndieWire, 26 July 2024
What audiences see are silhouettes engaged in a shadow play of entwined hands and arched backs, sensual but not X-rated.
—Rebecca Ritzel, Washington Post, 13 Feb. 2024
Granted, none of these are X-rated, but one of my concerns is that the intensity of this online relationship has grown quite exponentially in a very short time and could very well lead to actual X-rated.
—Amy Dickinson, The Mercury News, 31 Jan. 2024
Keep the red boost light on with your right foot and the Riviera will eventually peak out at 105 mph, although the speedometer is X-rated above 85.
—Don Sherman, Car and Driver, 8 Mar. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for X-rated
Adjective
-
Swift’s likeness has been used without permission in numerous AI fakes, including by Meta’s AI chatbots and in pornographic images that have circulated on the internet.—
Todd Spangler,
Variety,
27 Apr. 2026
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This material included thousands of pornographic deepfakes that Kamnik had generated using AI tools.—
Nate Anderson,
ArsTechnica,
9 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
For instance, the ruling recognized that the government’s need to protect national security might require it to prevent publication of the number and location of troops and that the primary requirements of decency might require censorship of obscene publications.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
29 Apr. 2026
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Bounds said this gives the mayor the power to intervene when a member of the public engages in obscene speech or in speech intended to incite others in the room.—
Matthew Adams,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
29 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
It is estimated that, based on measures of blood glucose, lipids, and other parameters, less than 12% of the adult American population can even be said to metabolically healthy.—
Christopher Duggan,
STAT,
27 Mar. 2026
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For many readers and critics, the perception was that Mansfield was almost writing children’s fiction, since most of her stories are deceptively easy to read, although her themes are entirely adult in both form and content.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
17 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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The word was considered so vulgar that it was left out of early dictionaries and was rarely printed, though Adams says people were certainly using it.—
Harmeet Kaur,
CNN Money,
8 Apr. 2026
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One day, Dahlstrom made a vulgar joke in a lunchroom referencing oral sex and pubic hair, according to the employee.—
Nick Ferraro,
Twin Cities,
4 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The erotic implications of vampiric temptation—and of glam-rock front men who generously offer to pierce an ear under the boardwalk—remain.—
Emily Nussbaum,
New Yorker,
30 Apr. 2026
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Mercedes Bryce Morgan, who most recently directed 2025 erotic horror Bone Lake, is helming the script adapted by Angela Gulner and Yuri Baranovsky.—
Andreas Wiseman,
Deadline,
30 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“X-rated.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/X-rated. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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