depravity

Noun

depravity (countable and uncountable, plural depravities)

1. (uncountable) The state or condition of being depraved; moral debasement.
   • Depravity in the oppressed is no apology for the oppressor.1850, Herman Melville, chapter 34, in White Jacket, or, The World on a Man-of-War
   • Walsingham was not blind to Edward’s failings, and attributed the political problems of the 1370s directly to the old king’s moral depravity.2000, “Introduction”, in The Reign of Edward III, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 10

   Synonyms:

   baseness, degeneracy, perversion, corruption, defilement, degradation, depravation, depravedness, impurity, iniquity

2. (countable) A particular depraved act or trait.
   • There were men there who had committed merciless robberies, cruel murders, heartless swindles, abominable depravities.1914, Julian Hawthorne, chapter 16, in The Subterranean Brotherhood

   Synonyms:

   outrage, turpitude, wickedness, atrocity, infamy, iniquity, wrong

3. (Christian, uncountable) Inborn corruption, entailing the belief that every facet of human nature has been polluted, defiled, and contaminated by sin.
   • 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!1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 8, in The Scarlet Letter

   Synonyms:

   impurity