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Obscene vs Profanity - What's the difference?

obscene | profanity |

As an adjective obscene

is offensive to current standards of decency or morality.

As a noun profanity is

the quality of being profane.

obscene

English

Alternative forms

* (archaic)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Offensive to current standards of decency or morality
  • Lewd or lustful
  • Disgusting or repulsive
  • Beyond all reason
  • Liable to deprave or corrupt

    • Usage notes

    * The comparative obscener and superlative obscenest, though formed by valid rules for English, are less common than more obscene' and ' most obscene .

    profanity

    English

    (wikipedia profanity)

    Alternative forms

    * prophanity (qualifier)

    Noun

  • (uncountable) The quality of being profane.
  • (countable) Obscene, lewd or abusive language.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author= Sam Leith
    • , volume=189, issue=1, page=37, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Where the profound meets the profane , passage=Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths. Consider for a moment the origins of almost any word we have for bad language – "profanity ", "curses", "oaths" and "swearing" itself.}}