Adjacent Words

Wickedness definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WICKEDNESS, n. Departure from the rules of the divine law; evil disposition or practices; immorality; crime; sin; sinfulness; corrupt manners Wickedness generally signifies evil practices.
What wickedness is this that is done among you? Judges 20.
But wickedness expresses also the corrupt dispositions of the heart.
Their inward part is very wickedness. Psalms 5.
In heart ye work wickedness. Psalms 58.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: morally objectionable behavior [syn: evil, immorality, wickedness, iniquity]
2: absence of moral or spiritual values; "the powers of darkness" [syn: iniquity, wickedness, darkness, dark]
3: the quality of being wicked [syn: nefariousness, wickedness, vileness, ugliness]
4: estrangement from god [syn: sin, sinfulness, wickedness]
5: the quality of being disgusting to the senses or emotions; "the vileness of his language surprised us" [syn: loathsomeness, repulsiveness, sliminess, vileness, lousiness, wickedness]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 14th century 1. the quality or state of being wicked 2. something wicked

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wickedness Wick"ed*ness, n. 1. The quality or state of being wicked; departure from the rules of the divine or the moral law; evil disposition or practices; immorality; depravity; sinfulness. God saw that the wickedness of man was great. --Gen. vi. 5. Their inward part is very wickedness. --Ps. v. 9. 2. A wicked thing or act; crime; sin; iniquity. I'll never care what wickedness I do, If this man comes to good. --Shak.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

wik'-ed-nes:

1. In the Old Testament:

The state of being wicked; a mental disregard for justice, righteousness, truth, honor, virtue; evil in thought and life; depravity; sinfulness; criminality. See SIN. Many words are rendered "wickedness." There are many synonyms for wickedness in English and also in the Hebrew. Pride and vanity lead to it: "All the proud, and all that work wickedness (rish`ah) shall be stubble" (Mal 4:1). Akin to this is the word `awen, "iniquity," "vanity": "She eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness" (Pr 30:20). Then we have the word hawwah, meaning "mischief," "calamity," coming from inward intent upon evil: "Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness" (Ps 52:7); zimmah, "wickedness" in thought, carnality or lust harbored: "And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness" (Le 20:14); `awlah, "perverseness," "Neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as at the first" (2Sa 7:10). The word for evil ra`) is many times employed to represent wickedness: "Remember all their wickedness" (Ho 7:2). Wickedness like all forms and thoughts of wrong, kept warm in mind, seems to be a thing of growth; it begins with a thought, then a deed, then a character, and finally a destiny. Even in this life men increase in wickedness till they have lost all desire for that which is good in the sight of God and good men; the men in the vision of Isaiah seem to be in a condition beyond which the human heart cannot go: "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness" (Isa 5:20). Shades of thought are added by such words as roa`, "evil," "badness": "Give them according to their work, and according to the wickedness of their doings" (Ps 28:4). And resha` or rish`ah, also gives the common thought of wrong, wickedness. The prophets were strong in denunciations of all iniquity, perverseness, and in announcing the curse of God which would certainly follow.

2. In the New Testament:

Wickedness, malignity, evil in thought and purpose is presented by the word poneria: "But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why make ye trial of me, ye hypocrites?" (Mt 22:18). Jesus points out the origin of all wrong: "For from within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed .... wickednesses, deceit, lasciviousness .... all these evil things proceed from within, and defile the man" (Mr 7:21-23). See Imitation of Christ, xiii, 5.

David Roberts Dungan

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Sin, evil, depravity, vice, immorality, unrighteousness, sinfulness, crime, criminality, villany. 2. Atrocity, iniquity, enormity, flagitiousness.

Foolish Dictionary

A myth invented by good people to account for the singular attractiveness of others.

Moby Thesaurus

aberrance, aberrancy, abnormality, arrantness, badness, baseness, bitchiness, corruption, criminality, cussedness, damnability, debt, delinquency, depravity, deviance, deviancy, devilishness, devilment, devilry, deviltry, evil intent, evilness, fiendishness, flagitiousness, foulness, godlessness, harmfulness, hatefulness, heinousness, hellishness, illegality, immorality, impiety, improperness, impropriety, inaccuracy, inappropriateness, inauspiciousness, incorrectness, indecorousness, indecorum, inexpedience, inferiority, infraction, iniquitousness, invalidity, invidiousness, irreligion, maleficence, malevolence, malice, malice aforethought, malice prepense, maliciousness, malignance, malignancy, malignity, meanness, moral badness, nastiness, naughtiness, nefariousness, noxiousness, orneriness, peccancy, rankness, reprehensibility, sin, sinfulness, un-Christliness, unangelicalness, unchristianliness, unfavorableness, unfitness, unfittingness, ungodliness, unhealthiness, unholiness, unkindness, unlawfulness, unpleasantness, unrighteousness, unsaintliness, unseemliness, unskillfulness, unsuitability, vice, viciousness, vileness, villainousness, violation, wrong, wrongfulness, wrongness