as in atheistic
not showing proper reverence for the holy or sacred
an impious act that horrified their pious mother
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Recent Examples of impious
While no formal announcement has been made to update its longstanding alcohol ban, Andrew Leber of Tulane University said this is in line with the Kingdom’s past approach to such potentially impious reforms.
—
Hugh Cameron, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 Dec. 2025
The only true dictionary is the lost one, the dictionary of the language that perished when the impious tower was built: the original language, God’s language.
—Mariana Dimópulos, Harpers Magazine, 26 Mar. 2025
This game must have seemed profane to the Greeks, or even impious.
—Simone Weil, Harper's Magazine, 2 July 2024
Both narratives, private and public, differently restrict our access, so the ideal historian will need great tact and an impious curiosity.
—James Wood, The New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2023
Sarah Thompson, the MFA’s curator of Japanese Art, and curatorial assistant Kendall DeBoer, who put the show’s more than 350 works together, deserve credit for being impious, not reverent.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Mar. 2023
To cut short these death throes is both impious (for those who believe) and immoral (for anyone).
—Michel Houellebecq, Harper’s Magazine , 6 Jan. 2023
Hugh Cameron, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 Dec. 2025
The only true dictionary is the lost one, the dictionary of the language that perished when the impious tower was built: the original language, God’s language.
—Mariana Dimópulos, Harpers Magazine, 26 Mar. 2025
This game must have seemed profane to the Greeks, or even impious.
—Simone Weil, Harper's Magazine, 2 July 2024
Both narratives, private and public, differently restrict our access, so the ideal historian will need great tact and an impious curiosity.
—James Wood, The New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2023
Sarah Thompson, the MFA’s curator of Japanese Art, and curatorial assistant Kendall DeBoer, who put the show’s more than 350 works together, deserve credit for being impious, not reverent.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Mar. 2023
To cut short these death throes is both impious (for those who believe) and immoral (for anyone).
—Michel Houellebecq, Harper’s Magazine , 6 Jan. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impious
Adjective
-
Not playing Notre Dame anymore is sacrilegious.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
3 Jan. 2026
-
That some do not agree with our message does not render our display sacrilegious or is the cause of any 'scandal' to the faithful.—
David Chiu,
PEOPLE,
16 Dec. 2025
Adjective
-
Ja Morant Let’s get blasphemous.—
Law Murray,
New York Times,
2 Feb. 2026
-
The Satanic Verses stirred controversy after some considered its portrayal of the Prophet Muhammed blasphemous.—
Rachel Raposas,
PEOPLE,
19 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Assad, a member of the Alawite religious minority, officially espoused a secular ideology.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
16 Feb. 2026
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But when many people within liberal societies do not feel that the system is working, when the practical case for liberalism comes into question, secular liberals don’t have much else to go on.—
Christopher Beha,
New Yorker,
14 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Charming, disarming, outgoing, chatty, funny, a little irreverent.—
Andrew Baggarly,
New York Times,
10 Feb. 2026
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Leonard Bernstein was commissioned to write a theatrical piece for the center’s opening in 1971, which turned out to be an irreverent ‘Mass’ — musically, liturgically, culturally and, most assuredly, politically.—
Jessica Gelt,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Groundhog Day is its pagan echo — a reading of light and shadow, an old way of guessing at spring.—
Ana Gutierrez,
Austin American Statesman,
3 Feb. 2026
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Over the course of that months-long reporting, a picture has emerged of the radical characters involved with the property, including a notorious neo-Nazi family and a pagan mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter.—
Rob Picheta,
CNN Money,
15 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Impious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impious. Accessed 18 Feb. 2026.
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