immoralize

English

Alternative forms

• immoralise

Etymology

immoral +‎ -ize

Verb

immoralize (third-person singular simple present immoralizes, present participle immoralizing, simple past and past participle immoralized)

1. To corrupt; to make immoral.
   • 1847, Henry Grattan, The Select Speeches of the Right Hon. Henry Grattan, page 333:

     But if this charge be true, then it can be no less true that the Messiah has failed, that the Christian religion is not of divine origin, since its effect and operation has been to deprave and immoralize mankind.

   • 1971, Earl W. Kintner, a Primer on the Law of Deceptive Practices, page 202:

     At early common law, gaming was not unlawful so long as it did not tend to immoralize the innocent or affect the interests of those not similarly engaged.

   • 2008, Omi Intan Naomi, The sound of silence and colors of the wind between the tip of a cigarette and fire of the lighter:

     Did Ugo immoralize the Javanese shadow-puppets by making them his? Did he deprive them of philosophy? Merely by telling them to don bikinis and to masturbate?

2. To decry as immoral.
   • 1916, Pacific Northwest Library Association, Proceedings - Volumes 7-9, page 17:

     His conventional Jayhawker morality causes him to immoralize thus regarding the alleged moral breakdown in Europe: “One could imagine that if God thinks war is necessary for the solution of the world's terrible problems, He will have no trouble forgiving these lapses that follow in the wake of war in France. […]

   • 1925, Industrial Pioneer - Volumes 3-4, page 26:

     The preachers decry it; the moralists immoralize it, the critics criticize it as poor entertainment, and the dear public, mind already warped and jared by too much entertainment, looks for a thrill elsewhere.

3. To behave immorally or promote immorality.
   • 1950, Michael Williams, Commonweal - Volume 53, page 332:

     Some writers just moralize better than others immoralize.

   • 2005, Neelum Saran Gour, Messres Dickens, Doyle & Wodehouse Pvt. Ltd, page 65:

     For when I am in a moral frame of mind I moralize and when I am in an immoral state I immoralize!