immorality

Etymology

It is formed from English im- + morality,^[2][3][4][5] with the assimilated form of the negative prefix in-.^[4] The OED instead takes it from immoral with the suffix -ity, after morality,^[6] and Dictionary.com likewise derives it from immoral;^[7] but immoral is recorded only from 1660, and Barnhart explains the adjective as a back-formation from immorality.^[2][3][6] The Shorter Oxford takes the word from Medieval Latin immoralitas, formed from the Latin prefix and Late Latin moralitas.^[8] The noun morality itself came through Old French moralite and directly from the same Late Latin word, meaning manner or character, from Latin moralis (“of manners or morals”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Immoral character or conduct; wickedness: about 1566, in John Alday's translation of Pierre Boaistuau's Theatrum Mundi.^[6][5][3] Etymonline dates the word to the 1560s.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Countable use, for an immoral act or practice, a vice, appears in Donne's sermons, before 1631.^[6][8] Johnson (1755) defined the word as dishonesty or want of virtue, and illustrated the plural with Swift.^[9] The OED notes that it is now often used of sexual impurity in particular,^[6] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Collins also single out unchastity or sexual licence.^[5][10]

Timeline

• c. 1566 – immoral character or conduct; violation of moral law.^[6][5][3]
• before 1631 – an immoral act or practice, a vice.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality or state of being immoral; wickedness or vice.^{[5][11][10][6]}
2. Immoral behaviour, especially in sexual matters; licentiousness or unchastity.^[10][5][6]
3. An immoral act or practice: the petty immoralities of office life.^{[5][11][10][6]}

Related words

• immoral
• morality
• moral

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt