From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Iniquity \In*iq"ui*ty\, n.; pl. {Iniquities}. [OE. iniquitee, F.
iniquit['e], L. iniquitas, inequality, unfairness, injustice.
See {Iniquous}.]
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1. Absence of, or deviation from, just dealing; lack of
rectitude or uprightness; gross injustice;
unrighteousness; wickedness; as, the iniquity of bribery;
the iniquity of an unjust judge.
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Till the world from his perfection fell
Into all filth and foul iniquity. --Spenser.
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2. An iniquitous act or thing; a deed of injustice or
unrighteousness; a sin; a crime. --Milton.
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Your iniquities have separated between you and your
God. --Is. lix. 2.
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3. A character or personification in the old English
moralities, or moral dramas, having the name sometimes of
one vice and sometimes of another. See {Vice}.
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Acts old Iniquity, and in the fit
Of miming gets the opinion of a wit. --B. Jonson.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Vice \Vice\ (v[imac]s), n. [F., from L. vitium.]
1. A defect; a fault; an error; a blemish; an imperfection;
as, the vices of a political constitution; the vices of a
horse.
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Withouten vice of syllable or letter. --Chaucer.
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Mark the vice of the procedure. --Sir W.
Hamilton.
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2. A moral fault or failing; especially, immoral conduct or
habit, as in the indulgence of degrading appetites;
customary deviation in a single respect, or in general,
from a right standard, implying a defect of natural
character, or the result of training and habits; a harmful
custom; immorality; depravity; wickedness; as, a life of
vice; the vice of intemperance.
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I do confess the vices of my blood. --Shak.
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Ungoverned appetite . . . a brutish vice. --Milton.
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When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway,
The post of honor is a private station. --Addison.
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3. The buffoon of the old English moralities, or moral
dramas, having the name sometimes of one vice, sometimes
of another, or of Vice itself; -- called also {Iniquity}.
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Note: This character was grotesquely dressed in a cap with
ass's ears, and was armed with a dagger of lath: one of
his chief employments was to make sport with the Devil,
leaping on his back, and belaboring him with the dagger
of lath till he made him roar. The Devil, however,
always carried him off in the end. --Nares.
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How like you the Vice in the play?
. . . I would not give a rush for a Vice that has
not a wooden dagger to snap at everybody. --B.
Jonson.
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Syn: Crime; sin; iniquity; fault. See {Crime}.
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From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
iniquity
n 1: absence of moral or spiritual values; "the powers of
darkness" [syn: {iniquity}, {wickedness}, {darkness},
{dark}]
2: morally objectionable behavior [syn: {evil}, {immorality},
{wickedness}, {iniquity}]
3: an unjust act [syn: {injustice}, {unfairness}, {iniquity},
{shabbiness}]
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