DEPRAVITIES
Noun
depravities
plural of depravity
Source: Wiktionary
DEPRAVITY
De*prav"i*ty, n. Etym: [From Deprave: cf. L. pravitas crookedness,
perverseness.]
Definition: The stae of being depraved or corrupted; a vitiated state of
moral character; general badness of character; wickedness of mind or
heart; absence of religious feeling and principle. Total depravity.
See Original sin, and Calvinism.
Syn.
– Corruption; vitiation; wickedness; vice; contamination;
degeneracy.
– Depravity, Depravation, Corruption. Depravilty is a vitiated
state of mind or feeling; as, the depravity of the human heart;
depravity of public morals. Depravation points to the act or process
of making depraved, and hence to the end thus reached; as, a gradual
depravation of principle; a depravation of manners, of the heart,
etc. Corruption is the only one of these words which applies to
physical substances, and in reference to these denotes the process by
which their component parts are dissolved. Hence, when figuratively
used, it denotes an utter vitiation of principle or feeling.
Depravity applies only to the mind and heart: we can speak of a
depraved taste, or a corrupt taste; in the first we introduce the
notion that there has been the influence of bad training to pervert;
in the second, that there is a want of true principle to pervert; in
the second, that there is a want of true principles to decide. The
other two words have a wider use: we can speak of the depravation or
the corruption of taste and public sentiment. Depravity is more or
less open; corruption is more or less disguised in its operations.
What is depraved requires to be reformed; what is corrupt requires to
be purified.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition