Word of the Day

: January 12, 2018

reprehensible

adjective rep-rih-HEN-suh-bul

What It Means

: worthy of or deserving reprehension, blame, or censure : culpable

reprehensible in Context

The newspaper's most recent editorial calls for the mayor's resignation, citing the recent accusations of bribery as both plausible and reprehensible.

"As a practical matter, successful hostile environment lawsuits involve two distinct components. Harassment is only the first. The second is the company's failure to respond effectively after learning about it, which is what turns reprehensible on-the-job behavior into job discrimination." — Joel Jacobsen, The Albuquerque Journal, 11 Dec. 2017

Did You Know?

Reprehensible, blameworthy, blamable, guilty, and culpable mean deserving reproach or punishment. Reprehensible is a strong word describing behavior that should evoke severe criticism. Blameworthy and blamable apply to any kind of act, practice, or condition considered to be wrong in any degree ("conduct adjudged blameworthy"; "an accident for which no one is blamable"). Guilty implies responsibility for or consciousness of crime, sin, or, at the least, grave error or misdoing ("guilty of a breach of etiquette"). Culpable is weaker than guilty and is likely to connote malfeasance or errors of ignorance, omission, or negligence ("culpable neglect").