Voluptuary
adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 One whose life is devoted to sensual appetites; a pleasure-seeker, a sensualist.
"But Mrs. Cole, in oppoſition to this, aſſured me that the gentlemen I ſhould be preſented to, were, by their rank and taſte of things, infinitely ſuperior to the being touch'd with any glare of dreſs, or ornaments, ſuch as ſilly women rather confound, and overlay, than ſet off their beauty with; that theſe veteran voluptuaries knew better than not to hold them in the higheſt contempt, […]"
- 2 a person addicted to luxury and pleasures of the senses wordnet
- 1 Of or relating to the seeking of sensual pleasure.
"For as it hath beene well obſerued, that the Arts which flouriſh in times, while vertue is in growth, are Militarie: and while vertue is in State are Liberall; and while vertue is in declination, are voluptuarie; ſo I doubt, that this age of the world, is ſomewhat vpon the deſcent of the wheele; with Arts voluptuarie, I couple practiſes Iocularie; for the deceiuing of the ſences, is one of the pleaſures of the ſences."
- 1 displaying luxury and furnishing gratification to the senses wordnet
Example
More examples"Eva considers herself to be a true voluptuary."
Etymology
From French voluptuaire, or directly from its etymon Late Latin voluptuārius, from Latin voluptārius (“pleasure-seeker; agreeable, delightful, pleasant; sensual”), from voluptās (“delight, pleasure, satisfaction”) + -ārius (suffix forming adjectives from nouns). Voluptās is derived from volup (“with pleasure; agreeably, pleasantly, satisfactorily”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to choose; to want”)) + -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns indicating a state of being).
Related phrases
More for "voluptuary"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.