An
obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent
morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin
obscaena (offstage) a cognate of the
Ancient Greek root
skene, because some potentially offensive content, such as
murder or
sex, was depicted offstage in classical drama. The word can be used to indicate a strong moral repugnance, in expressions such as "obscene
profits" or "the obscenity of war".