improbityn.
/ɪmˈprəʊbᵻti//ɪmˈprɒbᵻti/ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > decision > perseverance or persistence > [noun]
beleaving1340
continuationc1374
improbityc1380
perseveringc1380
perseverancec1384
continuancec1405
perseverationa1500
patience1517
constancea1533
importunity1533
persistence1546
persisting1576
going-on1578
persistency1600
constancy1623
stickle1652
rubbing shift1675
doggedness1824
stick-to-itiveness1859
persistiveness1864
holdfastness1869
continuativeness1881
stick-to-itness1881
c1380 Eng. Wycliffite Serm. in Sel. Wks. II. 154 Þis lastinge knocking is purging of man þat haþ lyved synfully; þis improbite to þis purpos is just tariyng of God.
1883 Athenæum 19 May 627 The reader who has had the improbity (in the untranslatable Latin sense of improbus) to follow M. Renan carefully.
2. Wickedness, want of principle or integrity.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > badness or evil > [noun]
woughc888
naughteOE
manOE
evilness1000
fakenOE
witherfulnessc1200
lithera1225
villainy?c1225
lithernessa1240
unwrastshipa1250
felonyc1290
shrewheadc1290
litherhead1297
illa1300
wicknessa1300
follyc1300
iniquity13..
shrewdom13..
wickhedec1305
shrewdheadc1315
shrewdnessc1315
unwrastnessc1315
wickednessa1340
malicea1382
unequityc1384
lewdnessa1387
mischiefa1387
wickedleka1400
wickedredea1400
badnessc1400
shrewdshipc1400
shrewnessc1425
ungoodlihead1430
wickdomc1440
rudenessc1451
mauvasty1474
unkindliness1488
noughtinessa1500
perversenessa1500
illnessc1500
filthiness?1504
noisomeness1506
naughtiness?1529
noughtihoodc1540
inexcellence1590
improbity1593
flagition1598
meschancy1609
scelerateness1613
pravity1620
meschantnessa1630
flagitiousness1692
flagitiosity1727
nefariousness1727
bale-fire1855
ill-conditionedness1866
iniquitousness1870
society > morality > moral evil > lack of principle or integrity > [noun]
improbity1593
pliableness1683
unprincipledness1792
1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie iii. i. 128 Persons excommunicable, yea, and cast out for notorious improbitie.
1695 Ld. Preston tr. Boethius Of Consol. Philos. iv. 198 That the exuberant Improbity of ill Men may be repell'd and abated.
1731 G. Medley tr. P. Kolb Present State Cape Good-Hope I. 27 His countrymen, among whom..all Improbity is abhorred.
1848 J. S. Mill Princ. Polit. Econ. i. vii. §5 The waste of wealth occasioned to Society by human improbity.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.c1380