Meaning & use
incestuous
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Meanings
adjectivenot comparable
Involving sexual activity between close family members, which is illegal and widely considered wrong.
Grammar: Used to describe relationships or acts; it is not usually graded with more/most.
Patterns
- incestuous relationship
- incestuous abuse
The novel tells the story of an incestuous relationship between a brother and sister.
Laws in many countries criminalize incestuous acts.
The therapist specialized in helping survivors of incestuous abuse.
adjectivenot comparabledisapprovingfigurative
Used disapprovingly to describe a group or system that is too close and only benefits its own members.
Grammar: Often used before a noun like 'relationship' or 'culture' to criticize closed circles.
Patterns
- incestuous relationship
- incestuous culture
- incestuous world
The fashion industry is often criticized for its incestuous relationships between designers and magazine editors.
The company's incestuous culture made it hard for outsiders to get promoted.
Critics say the awards committee is an incestuous group that rewards only its friends.
Common combinations
- incestuous relationship
- The two firms have an incestuous relationship, with board members serving on both boards.
- incestuous culture
- The department's incestuous culture discouraged new ideas.
- incestuous world
- In the incestuous world of classical music, everyone seems to know everyone.
- incestuous abuse
- She wrote a memoir about surviving incestuous abuse.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cliquish
- Describes a small group that excludes outsiders, but does not carry the sexual or strongly negative legal meaning of incestuous.
- nepotistic
- Focuses on favoring relatives in jobs or appointments, while incestuous emphasizes close, self-serving relationships more broadly.
- inbred
- Can mean produced by breeding between close relatives, or, informally, narrow and set in its ways; incestuous is more specific about sexual or overly close ties.
Word family
- incest noun
- The crime or act of sexual relations between close relatives.
Commonly confused: incestuous or inbred?
incestuous vs inbred
Inbred often refers to genetic effects of breeding between relatives, or to narrow-mindedness; incestuous focuses on the sexual act or overly close group relationships.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'incestuous' correctly in its figurative sense?
Choose one answer.
Option 0 uses 'incestuous' figuratively to describe a closed, overly close community. The other options misuse the word because it does not describe weather, speeches, or problems.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “incestuous”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.