immoral

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *né

Proto-Indo-European *n̥-

Proto-Italic *n̥-

Latin in-

Latin im-

English im-

Proto-Indo-European *med-

Proto-Indo-European *meh₁-der.

Proto-Italic *mōs

Latin mōs

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālis

Latin mōrālis

Old French moralbor.

Middle English moral

English moral

English immoral

From im- + moral.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪˈmɒɹəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪˈmɔɹəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒɹəl

Adjective

immoral (comparative more immoral, superlative most immoral)

1. Breaching principles of natural law, rectitude, or justice, and so inconsistent with the demands of virtue, purity, or "good morals"; not right, not moral. (Compare unethical, illegal.)

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:immoral

   Antonyms: moral, pure, righteous

   • English Standard translation of the Bible, Book of Hebrews 13:4:

     Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

   • 2020 May 27, Qingtong, “Officials in Ancient Times Blessed for Doing Good Deeds”, in Minghui‎^[1]:

     Lessons from history remind us that immoral societies don’t last very long and that the saying, “Good will be rewarded and evil will incur punishment” is a truism, reminding us of the proper way to behave—for our own benefit and that of others.

Usage notes

• Said of people, deeds, groups, traditions, or practices.

Coordinate terms

• amoral
• unethical
• illegal

Derived terms

• immoralism
• immoralist
• immoralistic
• immoralize
• immorally

Translations

not moral

• Armenian: անբարոյական (hy) (anbaroyakan)
• Azerbaijani: əxlaqsız
• Belarusian: амара́льны (amarálʹny)
• Bulgarian: неморален (bg) (nemoralen)
• Catalan: immoral (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不道德 (zh) (bùdàodé)

• Corsican: immurale, immurali, immorale
• Czech: nemorální (cs)
• Danish: umoralsk
• Finnish: moraaliton (fi), siveetön (fi)
• French: immoral (fr)
• Galician: inmoral (gl)
• German: unmoralisch (de), sittenwidrig (de), verwerflich (de)
• Greek: ανήθικος (el) (aníthikos)
• Hindi: अनैतिक (hi) (anaitik), व्यभिचारी (hi) (vyabhicārī)
• Hungarian: erkölcstelen (hu)
• Indonesian: asusila (id), nirakhlak, tak berakhlak, tak bermoral
• Irish: mímhorálta
• Italian: immorale (it), scorretto (it)
• Japanese: 不道徳な (ja) (ふどうとくな, fudōtoku na)
• Korean: 부도덕(不道德)하다 (budodeokhada), 비도덕적(非道德的) (ko) (bidodeokjeok)
• Latin: improbus
• Macedonian: немо́рален (nemóralen)
• Malayalam: അധാർമിക (ml) (adhāṟmika)
• Māori: karihika, makihuhunu
• Meru: mwiiya
• Naga:

  Khiamniungan Naga: yânglàikēi

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: umoralsk

  Nynorsk: umoralsk, usedug, usedeleg

• Piedmontese: imoral
• Plautdietsch: onmoralisch
• Polish: niemoralny (pl)
• Portuguese: imoral (pt)
• Romanian: imoral (ro)
• Russian: амора́льный (ru) (amorálʹnyj), безнра́вственный (ru) (beznrávstvennyj)
• Scots: roch
• Scottish Gaelic: droch-bheusach
• Spanish: inmoral (es)
• Swahili: fasiki (sw)
• Swedish: omoralisk (sv)
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: صویسز (soysuz)

• Ukrainian: амора́льний (uk) (amorálʹnyj)
• Vietnamese: vô đạo đức (vi)
• Yiddish: אוממאָראַליש (ummoralish)

See also

• inhumane
• inequitable
• unfair

Further reading

• “immoral”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “immoral”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Catalan

Etymology

From im- +‎ moral.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Central) [im.muˈɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia, Northwestern) [im.moˈɾal]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Adjective

immoral m or f (masculine and feminine plural immorals)

1. immoral

   Antonym: moral

Derived terms

• immoralitat
• immoralment

Further reading

• “immoral”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “immoral”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “immoral” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “immoral”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

French

Etymology

From im- +‎ moral.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i.mɔ.ʁal/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Adjective

immoral (feminine immorale, masculine plural immoraux, feminine plural immorales)

1. immoral

   Antonym: moral

   Coordinate term: amoral

Derived terms

• immoralement
• immoralité

Descendants

• → Russian: безнра́вственный (beznrávstvennyj) (calque)

Further reading

• “immoral”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012