Impropriety

//ˌɪm.pɹəˈpɹaɪ.ɪ.ti// noun

noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The condition of being improper. uncountable

    "If so many ladies of rank wrote books, there could be no impropriety in her following their example,..."

  2. 2
    an act of undue intimacy wordnet
  3. 3
    An improper act. countable

    "Bayh and his supporters ended up maintaining that it was no longer sufficient that a nominee had not engaged in any impropriety; now there must be no "appearance" of impropriety. Thus opponents of a nominee could raise an "appearance" of impropriety by false charges and thereby defeat him. It was a vicious circle: the nominee would not be condemned for what he had done but for what he had been accused of having done by his detractors."

  4. 4
    an indecent or improper act wordnet
  5. 5
    Improper language. countable, uncountable
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    an improper demeanor wordnet
  2. 7
    the condition of being improper wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
indecencyindecencymonkey businessaberranceaberrancyabnormality

Example

More examples

"Allegations of sexual impropriety were levelled against the headmaster."

Etymology

From French impropriété, from Latin improprietās. By surface analysis, improper + -iety or im- + propriety.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.