| Library / English Dictionary |
WICKEDNESS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Morally objectionable behavior
Synonyms:
evil; immorality; iniquity; wickedness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("wickedness" is a kind of...):
evildoing; transgression (the act of transgressing; the violation of a law or a duty or moral principle)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wickedness"):
devilry; deviltry (wicked and cruel behavior)
foul play (unfair or dishonest behavior (especially involving violence))
irreverence; violation (a disrespectful act)
sexual immorality (the evil ascribed to sexual acts that violate social conventions)
Derivation:
wicked (morally bad in principle or practice)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The quality of being disgusting to the senses or emotions
Example:
the vileness of his language surprised us
Synonyms:
loathsomeness; lousiness; repulsiveness; sliminess; vileness; wickedness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("wickedness" is a kind of...):
distastefulness; odiousness; offensiveness (the quality of being offensive)
Derivation:
wicked (highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Estrangement from god
Synonyms:
sin; sinfulness; wickedness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("wickedness" is a kind of...):
unrighteousness (failure to adhere to moral principles)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wickedness"):
mark of Cain (the mark that God set upon Cain now refers to a person's sinful nature)
Derivation:
wicked (having committed unrighteous acts)
Sense 4
Meaning:
The quality of being wicked
Synonyms:
nefariousness; ugliness; vileness; wickedness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("wickedness" is a kind of...):
evil; evilness (the quality of being morally wrong in principle or practice)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wickedness"):
filthiness (moral corruption or pollution)
enormity (the quality of extreme wickedness)
Derivation:
wicked (morally bad in principle or practice)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Absence of moral or spiritual values
Example:
the powers of darkness
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("wickedness" is a kind of...):
condition; status (a state at a particular time)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wickedness"):
foulness (disgusting wickedness and immorality)
Derivation:
wicked (morally bad in principle or practice)
Context examples:
And again, with never-failing wonder, I remarked the total lack of viciousness, or wickedness, or sinfulness in his face.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Instead of working wickedness by night and growing more debased in the assimilating of it by day, she shall take her place with the other Angels.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
When I look out on such a night as this, I feel as if there could be neither wickedness nor sorrow in the world; and there certainly would be less of both if the sublimity of Nature were more attended to, and people were carried more out of themselves by contemplating such a scene.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
For the first time, also, I felt what the duties of a creator towards his creature were, and that I ought to render him happy before I complained of his wickedness.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
“For me, I cannot conceive such wickedness!” cried the lady.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I hope he may repent of all the wickedness and sin to which he has been a party.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Humph! The wickedness has not been taken out of you, wherever you have sojourned.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
But I have heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold wickedness of the human heart.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
There was a diabolical wickedness in the idea great enough for the Count, and as a last chance I cried out:—"Shut the door; I shall wait till morning!" and covered my face with my hands to hide my tears of bitter disappointment.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
What a stroke was this for poor Jane! who would willingly have gone through the world without believing that so much wickedness existed in the whole race of mankind, as was here collected in one individual.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
