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turpitude

UK/ˈtɜː(ɹ)pɪtjuːd/US/ˈtɜɹpətuːd/
nounC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,408 of 15,258neutral

Turpitude is deep wickedness of character. Moral turpitude, an act of turpitude, charged with turpitude.

It appears almost only in the phrase moral turpitude, which is a real term in American immigration and professional law, where a conviction for a crime of moral turpitude can cost somebody a visa or a licence.

Definitions of turpitude

  1. 1nounturpitudeDeep wickedness of character.C2

    “The lawyer was struck off for moral turpitude after stealing from his own clients.”

turpitude is a wickedness.

Remember it

The Latin behind it is foul. Turpitude is a foulness in the character, and nothing lighter than that.

hooks ontofoul

Where it comes from

Latin turpitudo comes from turpis, foul or base.

  1. Latin

    turpitūdō — baseness, infamy

  2. Middle French

    turpitude

  3. English, today

    turpitude

Built from

  • turpis · Latin — foul, base

Middle French turpitude, from Latin turpitūdō (“baseness, infamy”), from turpis (“foul, base”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

turpitude in the wild

  • Dillon" in 1913, she was refused entry to the United States for "moral turpitude".

    Bernard Dillon

  • The book deals with the descent into moral turpitude of a boy at a boarding school or English public school of that era.

    Eric, or, Little by Little

  • The plot revolves around the fall into turpitude of a senior schoolboy named Loman, under the influence of a manipulative and dissolute innkeeper.

    The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's

  • Moral turpitude laws typically deal with legal, judicial, and business related transgressions.

    Moral turpitude

  • Moral turpitude laws should not be confused with laws regarding social morality, violations of which are more commonly called public order, morality, decency, and/or vice crimes.

    Moral turpitude

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.