impiousadj.
/ˈɪmpɪəs/, /(ˌ)ɪmˈpʌɪəs/, U.S. /ˈɪmpiəs/, /ɪmˈpaɪəs/ 1. Not pious; without piety or reverence for God and his ordinances; presumptuously irreligious, wicked, or profane:
a. of persons, or things personified.
ΚΠ
1594 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 ii. iii. 54 Impious Yorke and Bewford..Haue all lymde bushes to betraie thy wings.
1624 T. Gataker Discuss. Transubstant. 27 And who is so impious..as to eate thus that which he thinketh to be God?
a1704 T. Brown On Duke of Ormond's Recovery in Wks. (1707) I. i. 74 E'er Impious Ploughs to Wound the Earth began.
1871 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues I. 305 The impious, whoever he may be, ought not to go unpunished.
1875 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. (ed. 3) vii. 266 The Sunis recognise Abu-Bekr, Omar, and Othman..and regard the Shiahs as impious heretics.
b. of actions, sayings, and the like.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > piety > impiety > [adjective]
unrighteouseOE
hinderfulc1200
undevouta1300
unreligiousa1382
unkindc1390
unpiteous?c1400
indevout?1504
ungodly1526
godless1528
profane1568
ungodded1579
impious1585
unhalloweda1616
godforsaken?1623
devoteless1650
atheistic1677
undivine1686
Heaven-abandoned1720
indevotea1742
unctionless1842
indevotional1865
link1889
1585 Abp. E. Sandys Serm. xi. 173 If magistrates should commaund that which is impious..we haue our answere well warranted,..It is better to obey God than men.
1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) 338 To touch their mouths or meat with fingers is held absurd and impious.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost v. 813 Canst thou with impious obloquie condemne The just Decree of God..? View more context for this quotation
1718 M. Prior Solomon on Vanity ii, in Poems Several Occasions (new ed.) 464 At Dagon's shrine I kindle impious flame.
a1832 F. D. Maurice Moral & Metaphysical Philos. in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) II. 638/1 An impious disregard of all the processes of his education.
2. Wanting in natural reverence and dutifulness, esp. to parents. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > undutifulness > [adjective] > to parents
unkindc1325
unchildly1612
impious1613
unfiliala1616
society > morality > duty or obligation > recognition of duty > undutifulness > [adjective]
undutiful1595
dutilessa1603
impious1613
unduteousa1616
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 351 The Caspii shut up their parents..and there in respect of pietie (what more could the impious doe?) starve them to death.
1783 Ainsworth's Thes. Linguæ Latinæ (new ed.) iv. at Tullia The impious daughter of Servius Tullius..drove her chariot over the body of her aged father.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1585