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
Many other traditionalists have made a version of Scruton’s critique, insisting that contemporary art reflects self-indulgent, relativistic, and impious tendencies.
—
Luis Parrales, The Atlantic, 28 Apr. 2026
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
How impious is the title of sacred Majesty applied to a worm, who in the midst of his splendor is crumbling into dust!
—Charles Hilu, Washington Post, 4 Nov. 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
Luis Parrales, The Atlantic, 28 Apr. 2026
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
How impious is the title of sacred Majesty applied to a worm, who in the midst of his splendor is crumbling into dust!
—Charles Hilu, Washington Post, 4 Nov. 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for impious
Adjective
-
His father's death during World War II influenced his pursuit of the ministry even amid the officially atheistic communist regime of the Soviet Union, according to his obituary on the OCU website.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
20 Mar. 2026
-
But there has been a recent rise in secular congregations that explicitly mimic religious organizations and rituals to celebrate atheistic worldviews.—
Jacqui Frost,
The Conversation,
11 Jan. 2024
Adjective
-
Even the recipe deemed sacrilegious in Carbonaragate cannot evoke the same dramatic reactions or touch the same sensitivities that surround cheese—a relationship that, like wine and bread, is often inseparable from faith, sometimes quite literally.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 June 2026
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In any other context, a house of God smattered with people staring at their phones, trusting AI to speak to them, might feel sacrilegious.—
Andrew R. Chow,
Time,
26 May 2026
Adjective
-
Many of their performances are blasphemous, and their work only displays hate and mockery of Catholics and the Christian faith.—
Jon Root OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
6 June 2026
-
This way of approaching the story would help make its portrait of Jesus all the more human, and, to some, all the more blasphemous.—
Isaac Butler,
New Yorker,
30 May 2026
Adjective
-
Seven Mountains has brought the language of spiritual warfare and demon-fighting into the mainstream of evangelicalism, through a network of pastors who view themselves as prophets and apostles engaged in a battle against evil secular forces.—
Eliza Griswold,
New Yorker,
22 June 2026
-
Since the Six-Day War in 1967, which resulted in the emergence of the messianic Gush Emunim movement and the planting of settlements in the West Bank, changes within Israeli society have alienated many American Jews, as well as secular, left-wing Israelis.—
Adam Louis-Klein,
The Atlantic,
18 June 2026
Adjective
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That’s probably what makes the films a little more irreverent than some of the competition.—
Elsa Keslassy,
Variety,
20 June 2026
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Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude.—
Chas Newkey-Burden,
TheWeek,
18 June 2026
Adjective
-
Solstices are often associated with pagan religions and draw revelers of different faiths.—
Julia Gomez,
USA Today,
20 June 2026
-
There’s more than a tinge of folk horror to this lingering mystery, which brings to mind the 1973 genre landmark The Wicker Man, in which a puritanical police officer travels to a remote island community that’s reverted to old pagan ways.—
Keith Phipps,
Vulture,
15 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Impious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/impious. Accessed 24 Jun. 2026.
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