social evil
Americannoun
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anything detrimental to a society or its citizens, as alcoholism, organized crime, etc.
Etymology
Origin of social evil
First recorded in 1855–60
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.
"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.
From BBC • Aug. 18, 2023
“In the burning of Judas, social evil becomes laughable.”
From Seattle Times • Apr. 8, 2023
It’s the lack of acknowledgment that is the root of so much social evil.
From Washington Post • Nov. 14, 2019
There are clip-clop ole West numbers, solemn hymns of uplift and lamentation and sardonic Brechtian ditties of social evil.
From New York Times • Jun. 12, 2017
As a necessary sequence the women and children are the chief sufferers in a social evil of this sort.
From Gipsy Life being an account of our Gipsies and their children, with suggestions for their improvement by Smith, George
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.
