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depravity

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /dəˈpɹævɪti/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ævɪti

Noun

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depravity (countable and uncountable, plural depravities)

  1. (uncountable) The state or condition of being depraved; moral debasement.
    • 1850, Herman Melville, chapter 34, in White Jacket, or, The World on a Man-of-War:
      Depravity in the oppressed is no apology for the oppressor.
    • 2000, “Introduction”, in The Reign of Edward III‎[1], →ISBN, →OCLC, page 10:
      Walsingham was not blind to Edward’s failings, and attributed the political problems of the 1370s directly to the old king’s moral depravity.
  2. (countable) A particular depraved act or trait.
    • 1914, Julian Hawthorne, chapter 16, in The Subterranean Brotherhood:
      There were men there who had committed merciless robberies, cruel murders, heartless swindles, abominable depravities.
  3. (uncountable, Christian theology) Inborn corruption, entailing the belief that every facet of human nature has been polluted, defiled, and contaminated by sin.
    • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 8, in The Scarlet Letter:
      Here is a child of three years old, and she cannot tell who made her! Without question, she is equally in the dark as to her soul, its present depravity, and future destiny!

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References

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