Hypertext Webster Gateway: "impious"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Impious \Im"pi*ous\, a. [L. impius; pref. im- not + pius piou.
See {Pious}.]
Not pious; wanting piety; irreligious; irreverent; ungodly;
profane; wanting in reverence for the Supreme Being; as, an
impious deed; impious language.
When vice prevails, and impious men bear away, The post
of honor is a private station. --Addison.
Syn: {Impious}, {Irreligious}, {Profane}.
Usage: Irreligious is negative, impious and profane are
positive. An indifferent man may be irreligious; a
profane man is irreverent in speech and conduct; an
impious man is wickedly and boldly defiant in the
strongest sense. Profane also has the milder sense of
secular. --C. J. Smith. -- {Im"pi*ous*ly}, adv. --
{Im"pi*ous*ness}, n.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
impious
adj 1: lacking piety or reverence for a god [ant: {pious}]
2: lacking due respect or dutifulness; "impious toward one's
parents"; "an undutiful son" [syn: {undutiful}]
3: lacking piety and reverence for a god [syn: {ungodly}]
Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents;
see the Webster Gateway FAQ,
and also the Back-end/database links and credits.