social evil

noun

1. anything detrimental to a society or its citizens, as alcoholism, organized crime, etc.

2. prostitution.

Word History and Origins

Origin of social evil¹

First recorded in 1855–60

Example Sentences

The film also tackles the social evil that is dowry - the practice of the bride's family gifting cash, clothes and jewellery to the groom's family.

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“The public sees drug use as a ‘social evil,’” Jang said.

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Listing euthanasia as a “social evil,” he criticized supporters of assisted suicide as providing “false pretenses of a supposedly dignified and ‘sweet’ death that is more ‘salty’ than the waters of the sea.”

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"Each episode in this season takes up one structural social evil that is strengthened by marriage," says Debashree Mukherjee, a film scholar and professor at Columbia University.

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"Dowry is a social evil and we are committed to ending it. I have directed all police stations to give proper help to any woman who approaches them," Mr Mishra told me.

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