Iniquity
noun ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Deviation from what is right; gross injustice, sin, wickedness. uncountable
"And bycauſe our auncient enemye the Deuyl, who is the well and, ſpryng of iniquitie, and is not onely hymſelfe an homycide, a lyer, and and^([sic]) hater of the truth frõ the beginnyng: [...] Therefore like as we deſyre here to be delyuered from ſynne, ſo also we deſyre, that our heauenly father will ſaue vs, and defende vs from this euil the cauſer of ſynne, that is to ſaye, the Deuyll: [...]"
- 2 an unjust act wordnet
- 3 An act of great injustice or unfairness; a sinful or wicked act; an unconscionable deed. countable
"For this is an heinous crime, yea, it is an iniquitie to bee puniſhed by the Judges."
- 4 morally objectionable behavior wordnet
Example
More examples"And Juda said to him: What shall we answer my lord? or what shall we say, or be able justly to allege? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are all bondmen to my lord, both we, and he with whom the cup was found."
Etymology
From Middle English iniquite, jniquite (“evil, wickedness, iniquity; evil act; hostility, malevolence; hostile act; a calamity, misfortune”), from Old French iniquité (modern French iniquité (“iniquity”)), from Latin inīquitās (“iniquity; inequality, unfairness; inequity, injustice”), from inīquus (“unequal, uneven, unfair; disadvantageous, unfavourable; hostile, unkind; unsuitable; wicked, wrong”) + -itās (variant of -tās (suffix forming a noun indicating a state of being)). Inīquus is derived from in- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + aequus (“equal; fair, impartial, just”). Piecewise doublet of inequity.
Related phrases
More for "iniquity"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.