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Webster 1913 Edition


Iniquity

In-iq′ui-ty

,
Noun.
;
pl.
Iniquities
(#)
.
[OE.
iniquitee
, F.
iniquité
, L.
iniquitas
, inequality, unfairness, injustice. See
Iniquous
.]
1.
Absence of, or deviation from, just dealing; lack of rectitude or uprightness; gross injustice; unrighteousness; wickedness;
as, the
iniquity
of bribery; the
iniquity
of an unjust judge.
Till the world from his perfection fell
Into all filth and foul
iniquity
.
Spenser.
2.
An iniquitous act or thing; a deed of injustice or unrighteousness; a sin; a crime.
Milton.
Your
iniquities
have separated between you and your God.
Is. lix. 2.
3.
A character or personification in the old English moralities, or moral dramas, having the name sometimes of one vice and sometimes of another. See
Vice
.
Acts old
Iniquity
, and in the fit
Of miming gets the opinion of a wit.
B. Jonson.

Webster 1828 Edition


Iniquity

INIQ'UITY

,
Noun.
[L. iniquitas; in and oequitas, equity.]
1.
Injustice; unrighteousness; a deviation from rectitude; as the iniquity of war; the iniquity of the slave trade.
2.
Want of rectitude in principle; as a malicious prosecution originating in the iniquity of the author.
3.
A particular deviation from rectitude; a sin or crime; wickedness; any act of injustice.
Your iniquities have separated between you and your God. Is.59.
4.
Original want of holiness or depravity.
I was shapen in iniquity. Ps.51.

Definition 2024


iniquity

iniquity

English

Noun

iniquity (plural iniquities)

  1. Deviation from what is right; wickedness, gross injustice.
    • 1994, Jules, Pulp Fiction,
      The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men.
    • 2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner's punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a frippery when set against the burden that her bereft parents, June and Barry, must carry [print version: No room for sentimentality in this tragedy, 13 September 2014, p. S22]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport):
      But ever since the concept of "hamartia" recurred through Aristotle's Poetics, in an attempt to describe man's ingrained iniquity, our impulse has been to identify a telling defect in those brought suddenly and dramatically low.
  2. An unfair act or unconscionable deed.
  3. Hostility, malevolence, lawlessness.
  4. Denial of the sovereignty of God.

(Can we add an example for this sense?)

Translations