Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Sexual relations between persons who are so closely related that their marriage is illegal or forbidden by custom.
  • noun The crime of sexual relations with a person defined by statute as too closely related.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The offense of cohabitation or sexual commerce between persons related within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by the law or established usage of a country. In this offense illegitimate consanguinity is of the same effect as legitimate.
  • noun The holding, by a vicar or other beneficiary, of two benefices, one of which depends upon the collation of the other.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The crime of cohabitation or sexual intercourse between persons related within the degrees wherein marriage is prohibited by law
  • noun (Eccl. Law) The act of a vicar, or other beneficiary, who holds two benefices, the one depending on the collation of the other.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Sexual relations between close relatives (too closely related to be legally married), usually considered taboo, and a crime in many jurisdictions.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun sexual intercourse between persons too closely related to marry (as between a parent and a child)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Latin incestum, from neuter of incestus, impure, unchaste : in-, not; see in– + castus, pure, chaste; see kes- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin incestus.

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Examples

  • The word incest conjures ideas of sex, but there was never any sex between my father and me.

    Roseanne Archy Roseanne Barr 2011

  • The word incest conjures ideas of sex, but there was never any sex between my father and me.

    Roseanne Archy Roseanne Barr 2011

  • The word incest conjures ideas of sex, but there was never any sex between my father and me.

    Roseanne Archy Roseanne Barr 2011

  • The word incest conjures ideas of sex, but there was never any sex between my father and me.

    Roseanne Archy Roseanne Barr 2011

  • When I began my job assisting with the younger girls, I heard the word incest for the first time.

    The Grace to Race Sister Madonna Buder 2010

  • When I began my job assisting with the younger girls, I heard the word incest for the first time.

    The Grace to Race Sister Madonna Buder 2010

  • When I began my job assisting with the younger girls, I heard the word incest for the first time.

    The Grace to Race Sister Madonna Buder 2010

  • And of course the word incest had still not been so much as whispered in daylight.

    Noble Norfleet Reynolds Price 2002

  • And of course the word incest had still not been so much as whispered in daylight.

    Noble Norfleet Reynolds Price 2002

  • He has a twisted history with his alcoholic mother — abuse and incest is implied — and awkward sexual relationships with the other women in his life, not just “The Goddess”.

    Current Movie Reviews, Independent Movies - Film Threat 2010

Comments

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  • He fidgeted with his necktie. “You’ll think it’s a funny question: is there much incest?”

    “There’s some,” I told him; “that’s why they’ve got a name for it.”

    His face flushed.

    I said: “I’m not making fun of you. It’s one of the things nobody knows. There’s no way of finding out.”

    Dashiell Hammett, The Thin Man (1934)

    July 2, 2023