promiscuity

From French promiscuité

promiscuity (plural promiscuities)

1. The state or quality of being promiscuous.
2. Indiscriminateness in the choice of sexual partners.
   • 1963 Albert Ellis, The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Manhunting-p.129

     Experimental variety or what Rey Anthony has called selective promiscuity - is the cornerstone of sane sexual choice.

   • 1975 March 17, Marian Christy, Suzy Chaffee, A Liberated Beauty, The Lebanon Daily News

     I'm not advocating sexual promiscuity but I think it's possible for a woman to have many kinds of sexual relationships with many men and that shouldn't affect the status of the marriage

   • 1979, J.G. Ballard, The Unlimited Dream Company, chapter 24:

     Seeing these happy pairings, I thought of the cheerful promiscuity to come. I felt a growing sexual need, not only for the young women brushing against me in the crowded street...

   • 1998 May 14, James Dobson, Self-worth based on beauty can wither as women age, The Woodfield County Journal

     As she becomes more conscious of her flirtatious power, she is sometimes urged toward promiscuity.

   1. (dated, literary) State of being mixed, composed of diverse elements, unsystematic; heterogeneity.
      • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 34

        While I dressed—for Stroeve wished me to go at once with him to the hospital—he told me that he had arranged for his wife to have a private room, so that she might at least be spared the sordid promiscuity of a ward.