cacoethics

English

Etymology

caco- +‎ ethics.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌkakəʊˈɛθɪks/
• Hyphenation: caco‧ethics

Noun

cacoethics (uncountable)

1. Bad ethics or morals; bad habits.
   • 1885, Punch, volumes 88–89, →OCLC, page 1:

     The correspondence appears to have begun in one of the endless foolishnesses about contemporary novel-writing which appear to beguile the leisure of so many of our modern Cacoëthics.

   • 2014 March 3, M. F. Dail, Limbodeswills Wain, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Trafford Publishing, →ISBN:

     In the ensuing clashes between nouveau-cons and their more or less double-crossed doppelgangers, taking the part of either is to administer the kiss of life to a dying tradition or breathing new life into cacoethics.

Usage notes

Not to be confused with cacoethes ("compulsion; mania", or "a bad quality or disposition in a disease; a malignant tumour or ulcer") or its adjective cacoethic.