as in blasphemy
an act of great disrespect shown to God or to sacred ideas, people, or things
the unspeakable impiety of spitting in a church
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Recent Examples of impiety
By one hand, he is bound to himself, to his impiety, his recklessness, his envy and pride, his guilt and spite.
—
Merve Emre, The New Yorker, 16 Dec. 2024
Clouzot supplied that insight in strong visual terms: Fresnay’s conflicting impiety and righteous anger and so much dissatisfaction and panic among the townsfolk.
—Armond White, National Review, 20 Nov. 2024
But the books complement each other in isolating a specific strain of mid-century masculinity, one that’s a strange mix of entitlement and passivity, austerity and impiety, dutifulness and indifference.
—Jessica Winter, The New Yorker, 20 Sep. 2024
The impieties are to be taken as possibilities, not as actual truths.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 11 Dec. 2023
Yet impieties are explosive, which may explain why comic careers oscillate between in and out, as with those of Lenny Bruce and Andrew Dice Clay—one going from sick to saintly, the other from provocatively transgressive to vehemently taboo, in short order.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 11 Dec. 2023
If Socrates were still around (Letters, Nov. 3), he wouldn’t be canceled for impiety and corrupting the youth.
—Stephen Borkowski, WSJ, 7 Nov. 2023
Asclepius was a gifted healer, too gifted perhaps, and he was killed by Zeus for the impiety of raising the dead.
—Teju Cole, New York Times, 12 Sep. 2023
Such impiety led the tsar’s censors to ban many of Afanasyev’s tales.
—Stephen Pimenoff, Foreign Affairs, 16 Feb. 2021
Merve Emre, The New Yorker, 16 Dec. 2024
Clouzot supplied that insight in strong visual terms: Fresnay’s conflicting impiety and righteous anger and so much dissatisfaction and panic among the townsfolk.
—Armond White, National Review, 20 Nov. 2024
But the books complement each other in isolating a specific strain of mid-century masculinity, one that’s a strange mix of entitlement and passivity, austerity and impiety, dutifulness and indifference.
—Jessica Winter, The New Yorker, 20 Sep. 2024
The impieties are to be taken as possibilities, not as actual truths.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 11 Dec. 2023
Yet impieties are explosive, which may explain why comic careers oscillate between in and out, as with those of Lenny Bruce and Andrew Dice Clay—one going from sick to saintly, the other from provocatively transgressive to vehemently taboo, in short order.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 11 Dec. 2023
If Socrates were still around (Letters, Nov. 3), he wouldn’t be canceled for impiety and corrupting the youth.
—Stephen Borkowski, WSJ, 7 Nov. 2023
Asclepius was a gifted healer, too gifted perhaps, and he was killed by Zeus for the impiety of raising the dead.
—Teju Cole, New York Times, 12 Sep. 2023
Such impiety led the tsar’s censors to ban many of Afanasyev’s tales.
—Stephen Pimenoff, Foreign Affairs, 16 Feb. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impiety
Noun
-
Here, the government is forbidden from engaging in viewpoint discrimination, banned from imposing blasphemy restrictions, and prohibited from banning undesirable political parties.—
The Editors,
National Review,
18 Feb. 2025
-
These ranged from a high-scale corruption case to allegations of blasphemy and terrorism, all of which Khan and his supporters vehemently rejected.—
Tom O'Connor,
Newsweek,
27 Nov. 2024
Noun
-
Such a transformation would represent an irrevocable loss: a profound sacrilege not only to the city’s rich history but also to the cultural legacy for the future generations.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
23 Feb. 2025
-
For many liberals and radicals, beginning with Lord Byron, Elgin was a vandal who had committed sacrilege.—
Ralph Leonard,
The Atlantic,
4 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
His attorneys and family have rejected the government’s claims, calling his detention unjust and a violation of due process.—
Hanna Park,
CNN Money,
8 Apr. 2025
-
That came after Twins pitcher Simeon Woods Richardson was given a pitch-clock violation that led to a walk for the Royals’ Jonathan India.—
Pete Grathoff,
Kansas City Star,
8 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
In short, the Chicago area has a history of red-light camera corruption.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
7 Apr. 2025
-
White seems to like bringing back the one generally decent woman, for purposes of corruption.—
Angie Han,
HollywoodReporter,
7 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
Simply put, their acts are a desecration of the pursuit of knowledge.—
arkansasonline.com,
arkansasonline.com,
18 Mar. 2025
-
To Michael Hirsch, the desecration of hundreds of graves was a shanda, a shame, a ghoulish crime.—
Maria Cramer,
New York Times,
16 Feb. 2025
Noun
-
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move; ’Twere profanation of our joys To tell the laity our love.—
John Edgar Wideman,
The New Yorker,
8 July 2021
-
The first assault is on the Nile itself, which is turned to blood, thereby ruining both agriculture and aquaculture in one swoop, a profanation with religious consequences.—
Kevin D. Williamson,
National Review,
28 Nov. 2019
Noun
-
Very carefully, unless your boss is Graydon Carter, whose gift for irreverence and self-deprecation is almost as legendary as his hair.—
Jim Kelly,
Air Mail,
29 Mar. 2025
-
The film’s a strange but potent mix of irreverence and patriotism.—
Keith Phipps,
Vulture,
3 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Impiety.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impiety. Accessed 16 Apr. 2025.
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