impious

English

Etymology

From Latin impius.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ĭm-pī′əs, ĭm′pē-əs
• IPA^(key): /ˈɪmpi.əs/, /ɪmˈpaɪəs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: im‧pi‧ous

Adjective

impious (comparative more impious, superlative most impious)

1. Not pious.

   Synonyms: blasphemous, undevout, ungodly, unholy, unpious; see also Thesaurus:unholy

   Antonyms: pious; see also Thesaurus:devout

   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 114, column 2:

     […] I alvvayes thought / It vvas both impious and vnnaturall, / That ſuch immanity and bloody ſtrife / Should reigne among Profeſſors of one Faith.

2. Lacking reverence or respect, especially towards a god.

   Synonyms: impertinent, insolent, irreverent; see also Thesaurus:cheeky

   • 1928 February, H[oward] P[hillips] Lovecraft, “The Call of Cthulhu”, in Farnsworth Wright, editor, Weird Tales: A Magazine of the Bizarre and Unusual, volume XI, number 2, Indianapolis, Ind.: Popular Fiction Publishing Company, →OCLC:

     […] surfaces too great to belong to anything right or proper for this earth, and impious with horrible images and hieroglyphs.

Derived terms

• impiously
• impiousness

Related terms

• impiety

Translations

not pious

• Bulgarian: нечестив (bg) (nečestiv)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無信仰的 / 无信仰的 (wúxìnyǎng de), 不虔誠 / 不虔诚 (bù qiánchéng)

• Czech: bezbožný (cs)
• Esperanto: malpia
• Finnish: jumalaton (fi)
• French: impie (fr)
• German: pietätlos (de)
• Hindi: अधर्मी (hi) (adharmī)
• Indonesian: keparat (id)
• Irish: aindiaga, éagráifeach
• Japanese: 不信心な (ja) (ふしんじんな, fushinjin na)
• Latin: nefastus, impius
• Lithuanian: bedieviškas
• Portuguese: ímpio (pt)
• Russian: нечести́вый (ru) (nečestívyj), безбо́жный (ru) (bezbóžnyj)
• Spanish: impío (es)
• Swedish: ogudaktig (sv), gudlös (sv)

lacking reverence or respect, especially towards a god

• Bulgarian: безбожен (bg) (bezbožen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不恭 (zh) (bùgōng), 不敬 (zh) (bùjìng)

• Finnish: jumalaton (fi)
• French: impie (fr)
• German: pietätlos (de)
• Gothic: 𐌰𐍆𐌲𐌿𐌸𐍃 (afguþs)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ἄθεος (átheos)

• Hindi: अधर्मी (hi) (adharmī)
• Indonesian: durhaka (id)
• Irish: aindiaga, éagráifeach
• Japanese: 不敬な (ja) (ふけいな, fukei na)
• Latin: impius
• Lithuanian: nepagarbus
• Portuguese: ímpio (pt)
• Russian: нечести́вый (ru) (nečestívyj), безбо́жный (ru) (bezbóžnyj), непочти́тельный (ru) (nepočtítelʹnyj) (disrespectful)
• Tagalog: lapastangan