Dictionary entry

Impious

Webster's Dictionary 1913

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. 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.