immoral, a. (n.)
(ɪˈmɒrəl)
[f. im-2 + moral. Cf. F. immoral (18th c., Raynal).]
The opposite of moral; not moral.
1. Not consistent with, or not conforming to, moral law or requirement; opposed to or violating morality; morally evil or impure; unprincipled, vicious, dissolute. (Of persons, things, actions, etc.)
| 1660 R. Coke Power & Subj. 80 If a man be obliged to his will, then..every man is obliged to do any thing because he hath willed it, then which there is nothing can be more immoral and destructive to all society. a 1715 Burnet Own Time I. iii. 533 A learned but a very immoral man. 1736 Butler Anal. ii. Concl, The same dissolute immoral temper of mind. 1841 Macaulay Ess., Comic Dramatists (1887) 596 Morality is deeply interested in this—that what is immoral shall not be presented to the imagination of the young and susceptible in constant connection with what is attractive. 1848 Wharton Law Lex., Immoral contracts, all contracts founded upon considerations contra bonos mores, are void. 1860 Pearson in National Rev. Oct. 370 The times were gross, and their literature is often impure, but it is not immoral; it does not debauch the soul. |
† 2. Not having a moral nature or character; non-moral. Obs. rare.
| a 1761 Sherlock Serm. II. 130 (L.) Whatever reason they [brutes] have, it is..exercised only with regard to their own wants and desires, and this renders them immoral agents. |
B. n. (nonce-uses, in opposition to moral n.: see quots.)
| 1863 W. C. Dowding Life Calixtus xv. 131 To sketch the morals (or immorals) of the times he lived in. 1896 Ainger in B'ham Inst. Mag. Mar. 292 It is thought foolish now to point a moral. At the same time what may be called an immoral, is held..eminently artistic. |
Hence iˈmmoralness, immorality.
| 1727 in Bailey vol. II. |