Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A morally unprincipled person.
  • noun One who is predestined to damnation.
  • adjective Morally unprincipled; shameless.
  • adjective Rejected by God and without hope of salvation.
  • transitive verb To disapprove of; condemn.
  • transitive verb To abandon to eternal damnation. Used of God.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To disapprove vehemently; contemn strongly; condemn; reject.
  • To abandon to vice or punishment, or to hopeless ruin or destruction. See reprobation, 3.
  • Synonyms To reprehend, censure. See reprobate, a.
  • Disallowed; disapproved; rejected; not enduring proof or trial.
  • Abandoned in sin; morally abandoned; depraved; characteristic of a reprobate.
  • Expressing disapproval or censure; condemnatory.
  • Synonyms profligate, etc. (see abandoned), vitiated, corrupt, hardened, wicked, base, vile, cast away, graceless, shameless.
  • noun One who is very profligate or abandoned; a person given over to sin; one lost to virtue and religion; a wicked, depraved wretch.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One morally abandoned and lost.
  • adjective obsolete Not enduring proof or trial; not of standard purity or fineness; disallowed; rejected.
  • adjective Abandoned to punishment; hence, morally abandoned and lost; given up to vice; depraved.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to one who is given up to wickedness.
  • transitive verb To disapprove with detestation or marks of extreme dislike; to condemn as unworthy; to disallow; to reject.
  • transitive verb To abandon to punishment without hope of pardon.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective rare Rejected; cast off as worthless.
  • adjective Rejected by God; damned, sinful.
  • adjective Immoral, having no religious or principled character.
  • noun One rejected by God; a sinful person.
  • noun An individual with low morals or principles.
  • verb To have strong disapproval of something; to condemn.
  • verb Of God: to abandon or reject, to deny eternal bliss.
  • verb To refuse, set aside.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a person without moral scruples
  • verb express strong disapproval of
  • verb reject (documents) as invalid
  • adjective deviating from what is considered moral or right or proper or good
  • verb abandon to eternal damnation

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Middle English, condemned, from Late Latin reprobātus, past participle of reprobāre, to reprove : Latin re-, opposite; see re– + Latin probāre, to approve; see prove.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin reprobatus ("disapproved, rejected, condemned"), past participle of reprobare.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin reprobare.

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Examples

  • To her surprise Patty noticed that there was affection rather than disapprobation in the word reprobate, and she answered a trifle stiffly: "The Wattses are all well, I think: but, as for Mr. Holland,

    The Gold Girl 1921

  • It is an absurd assertion, that "the demerits of the reprobate are the subordinate means of bringing them onward to destined destruction."

    The Works of James Arminius, Vol. 2 1560-1609 1956

  • For they are heard for those who are predestined, not for those who are foreknown as reprobate; just in the same way as when we correct our brethren, such corrections avail among the predestinate but not among the reprobate, according to the words: _No man can correct whom He hath despised.

    On Prayer and The Contemplative Life Aquinas Thomas 1907

  • God gave them over to a wilfulness in the grossest sins, here called a reprobate mind -- eis adokimon noun, a mind void of all sense and judgment to discern things that differ, so that they could not distinguish their right hand from their left in spiritual things.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume VI (Acts to Revelation) 1721

  • - I reply, But we would agree that the most important issue is, does God call a reprobate person elect to the extent and duration that he is a member of the visible body, or, for that matter, does God call a reprobate person elect to any extent or duration at all?

    Green Baggins 2009

  • Onstage Jason Robards, Mr. Plummer's "reprobate" drinking buddy, "with firewater in his veins," used to continue a story he'd been telling before the curtain went up, interweaving it around the lines of the play.

    On Acting and Acting Up 2008

  • It is supposed to rest upon the sovereignty of God, and certain passages of Scripture, although the word "reprobate" is not found in them.

    The Doctrines of Predestination, Reprobation, and Election Robert Wallace

  • And he said not, "reprobate" for he would not "be" reprobate, even though he did not punish, nay rather for this very reason he would be "approved;" ` but even if some suspect us, 'he says, ` on account of our not displaying our power, to be contemptible and cast away, we care nothing for this.

    NPNF1-12. Saint Chrysostom: Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians Editor 1889

  • Compare the equivalent term, "reprobate," Jer 6: 30; 2Co 13: 6.

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

  • Fourth Woe -- against those who confound the distinctions of right and wrong (compare Ro 1: 28), "reprobate," Greek, "undiscriminating: the moral perception darkened." bitter ... sweet -- sin is bitter (Jer 2: 19; 4: 18; Ac 8: 23; Heb 12: 15); though it seem sweet for a time (Pr 9: 17, 18).

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

Comments

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  • heap opprobrium on a reprobate for his lack of probity

    January 28, 2011

  • Bi-sonic: morally unprincipled person vs. sending through probate again.

    April 3, 2015