Standard Lemma guide

iniquitous

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ɪˈnɪkwɪtəs/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ɪˈnɪkwɪtəs/
  • General-American: [-ɾəs]
  • rhymes with -ɪkwɪtəs

1

adj

Meaning 1

Characterized by iniquity (“deviation from what is right”).

Morally objectionable; sinful, wicked.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: nefarious, perverse, abandoned, arrant, bad, bad apple, bad seed, baleful, scurrilous, baneful, base, black-hearted, dark, deleterious, demonic, depraved, despicable, detrimental, devilish, diabolical, evil, evil-minded, facinorous, flagitious, harmful, heinous, ill-intentioned, ill-natured, immoral, incorrigible, iniquitous, iniquous, injurious, knavish, malefic, maleficent, malevolent, malicious, malign, malignant, naughty, niddering, nidering, niding, nithing, no-good, peccaminous, pernicious, reprehensible, reprobate, satanic, scathful, sinful, sinister, sordid, sullen, ungodly, unholy, vicious, vile, villainous, wicked, wrong, aberrant, corrupt, corrupted, dirty-handed, dissolute, effete, errant, indecent, indecorous, immodest, improper, incontinent, licentious, nought, obscene, perverted, profligate, unduteous, undutiful, unethical, unjust, unprincipled, unrighteous, unseemly, unscrupulous, unworthy

Antonyms: righteous, acceptable, agreeable, all right, amazing, as fine as Dick's hatband, awesome, beatific, bene, blissful, bodacious, bona, brilliant, celestial, commendable, cool, dandy as candy, decent, delightful, divine, enjoyable, excellent, exceptional, fabulous, fantastic, fine, goated, goloptious, good as wheat in the bin, gratifying, great, heavenlike, heavenly, incredible, lovely, magnificent, marvelous, neat, nice, not bad, outstanding, perfect, phenomenal, pleasant, pleasing, positive, rad, radical, right as rain, satisfying, solid, splendid, stellar, stupendous, super, superb, sweet, sweet as a nut, terrific, tubular, well, wicked, wonderful, wondrous

2

adj

Meaning 2

Characterized by iniquity (“deviation from what is right”).

Grossly unfair or unjust.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: equitable

Broader terms: inequitable, unfair, unjust

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

characterized by iniquity; wicked because it is believed to be a sin

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • iniquitous deeds
  • he said it was sinful to wear lipstick
  • ungodly acts

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: sinful, ungodly

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From iniquity + -ous (suffix forming adjectives indicating the presence of a quality in any degree (typically an abundance)).

Across languages

Translations

46 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: ظَالِم (ẓālim) — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Armenian: ապիրատ (apirat) — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Old Armenian: ապիրատ (apirat) — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Old Armenian: չար (čʻar) — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Bulgarian: греховен (grehoven) — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Bulgarian: грешен (grešen) — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Catalan: inic — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Chinese Cantonese: 邪惡嘅 /邪恶嘅 (ce4 ok3 ge3) — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Danish: syndig — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Dutch: boosaardig — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Dutch: moreel verwerpelijk — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Dutch: onrechtvaardig — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Dutch: zondig — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Faroese: syndigur — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • French: inique — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • German: sündig — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • German: ungerecht — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • German: verwerflich — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Hungarian: galád — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Hungarian: gonosz — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Hungarian: rossz — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Italian: iniquo — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Macedonian: гре́шен (gréšen) — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Macedonian: непра́веден (nepráveden) — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Middle English: cryminal — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Middle English: dampnable — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Middle English: feble — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Middle English: fole — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Middle English: myschevous — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Middle English: sory — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Middle English: yvel — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Norwegian Bokmål: syndig — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Norwegian Bokmål: skjendig — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Old English: ġedwolen — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Portuguese: iníquo — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Portuguese: pecaminoso — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Romanian: inic — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Russian: непра́ведный (neprávednyj) — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Spanish: inicuo — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Spanish: pecaminoso — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Turkish: adaletsiz — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Turkish: günahkâr — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Ukrainian: грішний (hrišnyj) — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Ukrainian: неправедний (nepravednyj) — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Ukrainian: несправедливий (nespravedlyvyj) — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked
  • Ukrainian: незаконний (nezakonnyj) — morally objectionable — see also sinful, wicked