noun
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Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of depravity
Explanation
Depravity goes beyond mere bad behavior — it is a total lack of morals, values, and even regard for other living things, like the depravity of a serial killer. You can see the verb deprave in depravity. To deprave is to make something bad, often to the point of moral corruption, like the parental fear that a bad influence will deprave their good kids. So, depravity is behavior that is morally corrupt or otherwise deemed wicked. Don't confuse depravity with deprivation, meaning "being denied something that is necessary."
Vocabulary lists containing depravity
The Scarlet Letter
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave" Vocabulary from the autobiography
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
She isn’t a figure of pity or depravity, just a woman with the unsteadiness of a fawn.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Cavalcanti’s, no less brilliant in its execution, looks through the glass darkly, with painful scenes of long-ago squalor and depravity that sadly echo our own.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 11, 2026
The ability to let the light shine through the depravity Ms Pelicot was subjected to - the "filth", as she repeatedly calls it - is a testament to her resilience.
From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2026
And one post-pardon case is already sticking out for sheer depravity.
From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2025
Even a half-remembrance of this episode, along with myriad other humiliations, defeats, and emasculations, could stir him into flights of depravity that surprised himself—but only himself.
From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
Townsfolk sought separation from the depravities of Rancho Izaguirre.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 21, 2025
Just listen to the seething passions and depravities of “Wise Blood,” Flannery O’Connor’s vicious satire of religiosity in the Deep South, and featuring a menagerie of grotesque characters by Pinchot.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 7, 2022
Both play and novel explore the delights — or depravities — of a secret life.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 12, 2021
Let them groan at my depravities, and blush for my misdeeds.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 27, 2015
Eisman knew more about that market, its characters, and its depravities than anyone Lippmann had ever spoken with.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
