Im·pi·ous a. Not pious; wanting piety; irreligious; irreverent; ungodly; profane; wanting in reverence for the Supreme Being; as, an impious deed; impious language.
When vice prevails, and impious men bear away,
The post of honor is a private station. --Addison.
Syn: -- Impious, Irreligious, Profane.
Usage: Irreligious is negative, impious and profane are positive. An indifferent man may be irreligious; a profane man is irreverent in speech and conduct; an impious man is wickedly and boldly defiant in the strongest sense. Profane also has the milder sense of secular.
-- Im*pi*ous*ly, adv. -- Im*pi*ous*ness, n.
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impiousness
n : unrighteousness by virtue of lacking respect for a god [syn:
impiety] [ant: piety]