Question posted by Baklis, Forum member, in my Personal Messages box (January 1, 2015):Greetings Sir!
What’s the difference between “nude” and “naked”? When do we use “nude” and “naked”? I hope you can shed light on this one.
Thank you.
My reply to Baklis:As adjectives, “nude” and “naked” are synonymous in the sense of “bare” or “devoid of a natural or conventional covering, especially by clothing.” Both can be used to describe anything devoid of customary or natural covering, as in “
nude Adonis” and “the
naked Maja,” or anything devoid of concealment or disguise, as in “
nude painting” and “
naked grab for power.”
The most common usage for these adjectives is, of course, to describe people in various stages of deliberate or careless undress or, as the French say it,
dishabille. I would say that the difference between “nude” and “naked” is the sense of delicacy with which the bare human figure is presented or posed for viewing. By this yardstick, the artistry in rendering “The Birth of Venus” by the Italian painter Botticelli would qualify the central figure in the painting as a “
nude Venus,” while a pornographic movie typically titillates viewers by showing “a
naked couple”—never “a
nude couple”—having uninhibited sex. In short, the perception of “nudity” or “nakedness” is in the eye of both the presenter and the beholder.
