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
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
His fellow Athenians, led by an up-and-coming politician named Meletus, charged him with impiety and corrupting the youth.
—Sara Novak, Discover Magazine, 7 Sep. 2022
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
His fellow Athenians, led by an up-and-coming politician named Meletus, charged him with impiety and corrupting the youth.
—Sara Novak, Discover Magazine, 7 Sep. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impiety
Noun
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For some reason, this idea of a period of cheap fossil fuels to accelerate the energy transition is blasphemy, even though a case study already exists in China.Mark Le Dain, Forbes, 15 Dec. 2024
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But now here’s Ferrari ratcheting up the blasphemy with—this is not a typo—what seems to be a station wagon.IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 28 Mar. 2012
Noun
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But sometimes movies need a little sacrilege to achieve their full potential.Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 13 Sep. 2024
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However, that didn’t stop right-wing figures around the world, including Donald Trump, from claiming that the performance amounted to sacrilege, leading to widespread harassment against Jolly, as well as some of the performers involved.James Factora, Them, 29 Oct. 2024
Noun
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For years, Austin schools had struggled to clear thousands of overdue requests from families that students get evaluated for special education services, which is a law violation.Keri Heath, Austin American-Statesman, 15 Dec. 2024
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Even as the Supreme Court has narrowed the pathways for victims of federal agents' constitutional violations to obtain relief, victims may demand compensation from state and local police who directly violate civil rights or conspire to do so.Stephan Pechdimaldji, Newsweek, 13 Dec. 2024
Noun
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In 2016, parliament impeached Park Geun-hye, the country’s first female president, over a corruption scandal.Kim Tong-Hyung, Chicago Tribune, 14 Dec. 2024
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The only other president to be successfully impeached was Park Geun-hye, a conservative who left office in 2017 and was sentenced to 22 years in prison for a corruption scandal involving major corporations and the daughter of a cult leader.Max Kim, Los Angeles Times, 14 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Artifact theft and desecration are surprisingly common in national parks.Corey Buhay, Outside Online, 8 Nov. 2024
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Another count, desecration of a human corpse, was dismissed.KC Baker, People.com, 17 Oct. 2024
Noun
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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
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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
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Its homewares collection has the same irreverence — pieces that flirt with the line between humor and high design.WWD, WWD, 11 Dec. 2024
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Its jokes are profound, its wisdom ridiculous, its irreverence wide-eyed and irresistible.Pitchfork, Pitchfork, 3 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near impiety
Cite this Entry
“Impiety.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impiety. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
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