impious

[ im-pee-uhs, im-pahy- ]

adjective

1. not pious or religious; lacking reverence for God, religious practices, etc.; irreligious; ungodly.

   Synonyms: irreverent, blasphemous, sacrilegious

2. disrespectful.

impious

/ ˈɪmpɪəs /

adjective

1. lacking piety or reverence for a god; ungodly
2. lacking respect; undutiful

Derived Forms

• ˈimpiousness, noun
• ˈimpiously, adverb

Other Words From

• impi·ous·ly adverb
• impi·ous·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of impious¹

1565–75; < Latin impius. See im- ², pious

Example Sentences

“They’d inform me why all the Methodists were going to burn in hell, because we smoke, we drink, we dance, we’re impious and profane and we lie, cheat, steal,” Hancock said in an interview with The Times.

From New York Times

Having conferred upon Franco’s touchdown its name for 11 o’clock news viewers to embrace, I accept neither credit nor, should you hold the moniker to be impious, blame.”

From Washington Post

“You are impious and transgressing.”

From Literature

It is “a hollow temple, not a hallowed one. The impious, soulless design evinces nothing sacred or transcendent. Base and plebeian… it mocks, in the voice of the nation, President Eisenhower and republican virtue. A de-moralised memorial, it rejects American values for an ersatz populist levelling-down. It rejects heroism and greatness.”

From The Guardian

Furious with anger, he was hurrying from the temple to capture and put to death the impious strangers and the treacherous priestess, when suddenly above him in the air a radiant form appeared—manifestly a goddess.

From Literature