as in atheistical
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
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
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
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But how can considering sincere questions of faith and meaning within a place of worship be sacrilegious or desperate?—
Jordan King,
MSNBC Newsweek,
13 Oct. 2025
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Think that's wild and somehow sacrilegious?—
Marcus K. Dowling,
Nashville Tennessean,
27 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Stowe is known mainly for Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a novel profoundly informed by her Christian nationalist belief that the United States was failing in its mission to become a New Canaan, precisely because of the blasphemous practice of slavery.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Oct. 2025
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To say that Judge does not have a signature October moment is blasphemous and far from the truth.—
Andrew Wright,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Shikaki, who has been tracking Palestinian public opinion for decades, said Barghouti is by far the most popular Palestinian leader and the only secular nationalist capable of winning elections.—
Ivana Kottasová,
CNN Money,
8 Oct. 2025
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The story is based on the true case of the abduction in Israel of a seven-year-old Jewish boy, Yossele Schumacher, by his ultra-Orthodox grandfather in the early 1960s, to prevent him from being raised as a secular Jew by his parents.—
Annika Pham,
Variety,
6 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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With his irreverent attitude, Girbaud reinterpreted them by putting contrasting stitches on a back pocket and adding a metal piercing embellishment in the three dots that make for the lowkey logo marking Létrange’s offerings.—
Sandra Salibian,
Footwear News,
8 Oct. 2025
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For an extra-inventive twist, Brazilian designer Lucas Simões recently unveiled the Colendra chair, a wild, sculptural example of metalworking that combines an irreverent sensibility with practiced craft.—
Rachel Gallaher,
Robb Report,
4 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Impious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impious. Accessed 16 Oct. 2025.
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