Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Depravity; baseness.
- n. A base act.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Inherent baseness or vileness; shameful wickedness; depravity.
Wiktionary
- n. Inherent baseness, depravity or wickedness; corruptness and evilness.
- n. An act evident of such a depravity.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Inherent baseness or vileness of principle, words, or actions; shameful wickedness; depravity.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a corrupt or depraved or degenerate act or practice
Etymologies
- From Latin turpitūdō ("baseness, infamy"), from turpis ("foul, base"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French, from Latin turpitūdō, from turpis, shameful. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Here there has just taken place a "raid" rivalling in turpitude and impudence the famous deed of Bennett Young.”
“Well they've certainly changed enormously — I mean, people can live together now without it being called moral turpitude, which is a big step.”
“Going further into the letter to Sheen's attorneys, Bloom also explained the term "moral turpitude.”
“Neither "turpitude" nor "quotidian" get a mention in my little English-French dictionary.”
“In fact, except Oliver Cromwell, King William, a few gentlemen who had the misfortune to be executed or exiled for high treason, and every dissenting minister that he has or can find occasion to notice, there are hardly any persons mentioned who are not stigmatized as knaves or fools, differing only in degrees of "turpitude" and "imbecility".”
“When we come to declaring opinions that are, however foolishly and unreasonably, associated with pain and even a kind of turpitude in the minds of those who strongly object to them, then some of our most powerful sympathies are naturally engaged.”
“Yet that's exactly what the federal government is trying to do, citing his record and "turpitude" as the legal grounds on which he should be removed from the country.”
“For, as Aristotle says rightly, the moving of laughter is a fault in comedy, a kind of turpitude that depraves some part of a man's nature without a disease.”
“In the 1940s, the Court ruled that the right to procreate is a fundamental right and declared unconstitutional an Oklahoma law that required the sterilization of those convicted three times of crimes involving moral turpitude.”
Simon & Schuster: The Conservative Assault on the Constitution
“Warner Bros. said it was terminating Sheen because there is "ample evidence" that he has committed "felony offenses involving moral turpitude including but not limited to furnishing of cocaine to others as part of the self-destructive lifestyle he has described publicly," which have interfered with Sheen's ability to fulfill terms of his contract and which give the studio "the right to treat such as a default" on his contract.”
The Washington Post: Charlie Sheen fired from 'Two and a Half Men' for 'self destructive conduct'
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘turpitude’.
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501
Classic
mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado, toil, onus, aberration, abstruse, anomaly and 401 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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501
Classic
abhor, mirth, obtuse, iota, vex, irk, teem, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane and 401 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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wallace
Remington, Windsor, prorector, wen, aver, mottle, seltzer, tepee, lapidary, effete, sotto, presbyopia and 355 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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Naresh_Gre2
convoke, cosset, coterie, declaim, distaff, doff, dovetail, droll, dyspeptic, egress, ersatz, euphemism and 108 more...
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501
Classic
bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado, toil, onus, aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august and 401 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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man gre
abase, abeyance, abreast, abscission, abscond, abyss, accede, accretion, acerbic, acidulous, acumen, adulterate and 483 more...
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Filter 1
Hard words level 1
besotted, altricial, consecrate, consternate, desuetude, detractor, dissolute, divisive, emaciated, enamored, ensconce, garishly and 76 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1896 more...
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to memorize
words i need to memorize
aberrant, abscond, advocate, aggrandize, amalgamate, ambiguous, ambrosial, anomalous, antediluvian, antipathy, arbitrate, assuage and 163 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
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Prep my Lang
Collection of my wordnik word search
equivocal, anomaly, proliferate, assimilate, obscure, aberration, parse, circumnavigate, circumvent, decipher, prose, impasse and 94 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for turpitude.
timrmortiss "So then: these were Srenki, men whose virtue was the excess of vice, who with leaden zest performed quintessential evil and so redeemed their fellows from turpitude."
Jack Vance, The Domains of Koryphon Aug 1, 2008
frindley And for some reason always associated in my mind with torpor as if one state somehow leads to the other. Perhaps in a way they do – to quote my mother, 'The Devil always finds work for idle hands.' Mar 19, 2008
frindley an impressive sounding word, perfect for the passing of (superior) judgement, especially in the combination moral turpitude Mar 19, 2008
seanahan typically paired with moral. Sep 18, 2007
nicsims inherent baseness Sep 16, 2007
alguien Brings to mind turpentine. Mar 27, 2007