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IMPROPRIETY
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
An act of undue intimacy
Synonyms:
familiarity; impropriety; indecorum; liberty
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("impropriety" is a kind of...):
misbehavior; misbehaviour; misdeed (improper or wicked or immoral behavior)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An indecent or improper act
Synonyms:
impropriety; indecency
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("impropriety" is a kind of...):
misbehavior; misbehaviour; misdeed (improper or wicked or immoral behavior)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "impropriety"):
obscenity (an obscene act)
Sense 3
Meaning:
An improper demeanor
Synonyms:
improperness; impropriety
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("impropriety" is a kind of...):
behavior; behaviour; conduct; demeanor; demeanour; deportment ((behavioral attributes) the way a person behaves toward other people)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "impropriety"):
incorrectness (lack of conformity to social expectations)
inappropriateness; wrongness (inappropriate conduct)
indelicacy (the trait of being indelicate and offensive)
indecorousness; indecorum (a lack of decorum)
indecency (the quality of being indecent)
Antonym:
propriety (correct or appropriate behavior)
Sense 4
Meaning:
The condition of being improper
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("impropriety" is a kind of...):
condition; status (a state at a particular time)
Context examples:
She was now struck with the impropriety of such communications to a stranger, and wondered it had escaped her before.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
If the impertinent remarks of Mrs. Jennings are to be the proof of impropriety in conduct, we are all offending every moment of our lives.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
Catherine's silent appeal to her friend, meanwhile, was entirely thrown away, for Mrs. Allen, not being at all in the habit of conveying any expression herself by a look, was not aware of its being ever intended by anybody else; and Catherine, whose desire of seeing Miss Tilney again could at that moment bear a short delay in favour of a drive, and who thought there could be no impropriety in her going with Mr. Thorpe, as Isabella was going at the same time with James, was therefore obliged to speak plainer.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
He seemed to think I had committed an impropriety in proposing to accompany him unmarried: as if I had not from the first hoped to find in him a brother, and habitually regarded him as such.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Much, much beyond impropriety!
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
I do not censure her opinions; but there certainly is impropriety in making them public.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Every idea that had been brought forward by the housekeeper was favourable to his character, and as she stood before the canvas on which he was represented, and fixed his eyes upon herself, she thought of his regard with a deeper sentiment of gratitude than it had ever raised before; she remembered its warmth, and softened its impropriety of expression.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
On the contrary, nothing can be a stronger proof of it, Elinor; for if there had been any real impropriety in what I did, I should have been sensible of it at the time, for we always know when we are acting wrong, and with such a conviction I could have had no pleasure.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
Emma, in good spirits too, from the amusement afforded her mind by the expectation of Mr. Frank Churchill, was willing to forget his late improprieties, and be as well satisfied with him as before, and on his making Harriet his very first subject, was ready to listen with most friendly smiles.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Mrs. Norris was a little confounded and as nearly being silenced as ever she had been in her life; for she was ashamed to confess having never seen any of the impropriety which was so glaring to Sir Thomas, and would not have admitted that her influence was insufficient—that she might have talked in vain.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
