Etymologically
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immoral

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 12:48. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ɪˈmɒɹəl/[1]
  • US: /ɪˈmɔɹəl/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English im- + moral, with the negative prefix in- in its assimilated form.[2][3][4][5] The OED compares French immoral, recorded in the 18th century in Raynal.[2] Moral is from Old French moral and mōrālis, from mōs (“custom, manner”).[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not consistent with moral law or standards; morally evil, unprincipled, dissolute: 1660, in Roger Coke's Elements of Power and Subjection.[2][7] Etymonline and Dictionary.com date it to the 1650s.[3][8]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word meant contrary to morality, and it came to be used especially of sexual conduct, for unchaste or licentious.[2][9][10] A rarer sense, not having a moral nature, non-moral, is recorded only in a sermon of Bishop Sherlock before 1761;[2] that meaning is now carried by amoral.[8] Johnson (1755) defined it as lacking regard for natural religion, and contrary to honesty.[11] In legal language, Etymonline notes, it tends to mean merely contrary to the common good or to reasonable order.[3] The noun immoral, an immoral person, is recorded from 1900.[2]

Timeline

  • 1660 – not conforming to moral law; morally evil, dissolute.[2][7]
  • a1761 – non-moral (obsolete and rare).[2]
  • 1900 – noun, an immoral person.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Contrary to accepted moral principles; wicked or corrupt: an immoral scheme to cheat pensioners.[10][7][6][2]
  2. Sexually dissolute or licentious.[10][9][7]
  3. Tending to corrupt, or earned by corrupt means: immoral earnings.[10][4]

Word family

  • immorally
  • immoralism
  • immoralist
  • immoralize
  • moral
  • amoral
  • immorality
  • morals
  • mores

Usage notes

Dictionary.com distinguishes immoral, of conduct that breaks moral standards and sometimes licentious, from abandoned, of a person sunk in wickedness, and depraved, of a character that seeks evil.[8] It also warns against confusing immoral with amoral, nonmoral and unmoral, which mean lacking any morals, good or bad, though being amoral can be judged as harshly as being immoral.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  9. ^ a b Webster's New World College Dictionary (2014), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.