impious

American  

[im-pee-uhs, im-pahy-] / ˈɪm pi əs, ɪmˈpaɪ- /

adjective

1. not pious or religious; lacking reverence for God, religious practices, etc.; irreligious; ungodly.

   Synonyms:

   irreverent, blasphemous, sacrilegious

2. disrespectful.

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impious British  

/ ˈɪmpɪəs /

adjective

1. lacking piety or reverence for a god; ungodly

2. lacking respect; undutiful

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Other Word Forms

• impiously adverb
• impiousness noun

Etymology

Origin of impious

1565–75; < Latin impius. See im- ², pious

Example Sentences

Having conferred upon Franco’s touchdown its name for 11 o’clock news viewers to embrace, I accept neither credit nor, should you hold the moniker to be impious, blame.”

From Washington Post

Once it felt impious just to say the word Auschwitz.

From The Guardian

In the teeming al-Hol displacement camp, the true believers have been threatening those they consider impious, brandishing knives, spitting and throwing stones at them, and even burning down their tents.

From Washington Post

Hugo, not a pious figure but a Republican and political one—the voice, in fact, of the impious populace—made the cathedral the quintessential French romantic setting.

From The New Yorker

Prabowo, meanwhile, has been depicted as both impious and planning to create a caliphate, while his running mate has been portrayed inaccurately as gay.

From Reuters