Depravity

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Depravity \De*prav"i*ty\, n. [From {Deprave}: cf. L. pravitas
     crookedness, perverseness.]
     The state of being depraved or corrupted; a vitiated state of
     moral character; general badness of character; wickedness of
     mind or heart; absence of religious feeling and principle.
     [1913 Webster]


  
     {Total depravity}. See {Original sin}, and {Calvinism}.
  
     Syn: Corruption; vitiation; wickedness; vice; contamination;
          degeneracy.
  
     Usage: {Depravity}, {Depravation}, {Corruption}. Depravilty
            is a vitiated state of mind or feeling; as, the
            depravity of the human heart; depravity of public
            morals. Depravation points to the act or process of
            making depraved, and hence to the end thus reached;
            as, a gradual depravation of principle; a depravation
            of manners, of the heart, etc. Corruption is the only
            one of these words which applies to physical
            substances, and in reference to these denotes the
            process by which their component parts are dissolved.
            Hence, when figuratively used, it denotes an utter
            vitiation of principle or feeling. Depravity applies
            only to the mind and heart: we can speak of a depraved
            taste, or a corrupt taste; in the first we introduce
            the notion that there has been the influence of bad
            training to pervert; in the second, that there is a
            want of true principle to pervert; in the second, that
            there is a want of true principles to decide. The
            other two words have a wider use: we can speak of the
            depravation or the corruption of taste and public
            sentiment. Depravity is more or less open; corruption
            is more or less disguised in its operations. What is
            depraved requires to be reformed; what is corrupt
            requires to be purified.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  depravity
       n 1: moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles;
            "the luxury and corruption among the upper classes";
            "moral degeneracy followed intellectual degeneration";
            "its brothels; its opium parlors; its depravity" [syn: {corruption},
             {degeneracy}]
       2: a corrupt or depraved or degenerate act or practice; "the
          various turpitudes of modern society" [syn: {turpitude}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  65 Moby Thesaurus words for "depravity":
     abandon, abandonment, abjection, abjectness, abominableness,
     atrociousness, baseness, beggarliness, contemptibility,
     contemptibleness, corruptedness, corruption, corruptness,
     crumminess, debasement, decadence, decadency, degeneracy,
     degenerateness, degeneration, degradation, demoralization,
     depravation, depravedness, despicableness, dissoluteness, enormity,
     execrableness, foulness, fulsomeness, grossness, heinousness,
     immorality, littleness, lowness, meanness, miserableness,
     monstrousness, moral pollution, moral turpitude, nefariousness,
     obnoxiousness, odiousness, paltriness, pettiness, pokiness,
     poorness, profligacy, rankness, reprobacy, rottenness, scabbiness,
     scrubbiness, scruffiness, scumminess, scurviness, shabbiness,
     shoddiness, smallness, squalor, turpitude, vice, vileness,
     wickedness, wretchedness