Word Study
impious
CIDE DICTIONARY
impious, a. [L. impius; pref. im- not + pius piou. See Pious.].
Not pious; wanting piety; irreligious; irreverent; ungodly; profane; wanting in reverence for the Supreme Being; as, an impious deed; impious language. [1913 Webster]
"When vice prevails, and impious men bear away,
The post of honor is a private station."
The post of honor is a private station."
OXFORD DICTIONARY
impious, adj.
1 not pious.
2 wicked, profane.
1 not pious.
2 wicked, profane.
Derivative
impiously adv. impiousness n.
Etymology
L impius (as IN-(1), PIOUS)
THESAURUS
impious
apostate, arch, atheistic, backsliding, blasphemous, casual, coltish, contrary, devil-may-care, disobedient, elvish, fallen, fallen from grace, flippant, free and easy, fresh, frolicsome, froward, giddy, godless, iconoclastic, impish, iniquitous, irreligious, irreverent, lapsed, mischievous, offhand, pert, perverse, pixieish, profanatory, profane, puckish, recidivist, recidivistic, recreant, renegade, roguish, sacrilegious, saucy, scandalous, sinful, sportive, un-Christly, unangelic, unchristian, undevout, unduteous, undutiful, unfaithful, ungodly, unhallowed, unholy, unrighteous, unsaintly, waggish, wayward, wicked, wrongheadedROGET THESAURUS
impious
Impiety
N impiety, sin, irreverence, profaneness, profanity, profanation, blasphemy, desecration, sacrilege, scoffing, hypocrisy, pietism, cant, pious fraud, lip devotion, lip service, lip reverence, misdevotion, formalism, austerity, sanctimony, sanctimoniousness, pharisaism, precisianism, sabbatism, sabbatarianism, odium theologicum, sacerdotalism, bigotry blue laws, hardening, backsliding, declension, perversion, reprobation, sinner, scoffer, blasphemer, sacrilegist, sabbath breaker, worldling, hypocrite, Tartufe, Mawworm, bigot, saint, Pharisee, sabbatarian, formalist, methodist, puritan, pietist, precisian, religionist, devotee, ranter, fanatic, juramentado, the wicked, the evil, the unjust, the reprobate, sons of men, sons of Belial, the wicked one, children of darkness, impious, irreligious, desecrating, profane, irreverent, sacrilegious, blasphemous, un-hallowed, un-sanctified, un-regenerate, hardened, perverted, reprobate, hypocritical, canting, pietistical, sanctimonious, unctuous, pharisaical, overrighteous, righteous over much, bigoted, fanatical, priest-ridden, under the mask of religion, under the cloak of religion, under the pretense of religion, under the form of religion, under the guise of religion, giovane santo diavolo vecchio.For further exploring for "impious" in Webster Dictionary Online