nudity - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From nude +‎ -ity. Compare Late Latin nūditās.

nudity (usually uncountable, plural nudities)

  1. (uncountable) The state or quality of being without clothing on the body; specifically, the quality of being without clothing on the genitals.
    Synonyms: nakedness, bareness, nudeness
    In places such as Scandinavia, public nudity is legal.
  2. (countable, rare) Something or someone without clothes.
    Synonym: nude
    • 1809, Wm. Weston, “Remarkable Instance of Propensity to the Savage State”, in The Annual Register, or a View of the History, Politics, and Literature, for the Year 1807‎[1], page 906:
      […] he had divested himself of the incumbrance of dress […] and although a nudity, he appeared before numbers of people unabashed, and with an unblushing composure of countenance, which envinces that the sense of shame in him is entirely abolished.
    • 1865 March 5, “The Prince Napoleon's Ball.”, in The New York Times‎[2]:
      M. PILS' battle-piece, representing Prince NAPOLEON leading his division at Alma, and some of M. GEROME's startling nudities.

the state of being without clothing on the body