#943. Selfishness.—N. selfishness &c. adj.; self-love, self- indulgence, self-worship, self-interest; egotism, egoism; amour propre[Fr],&c. (vanity) 880; nepotism. worldliness &c. adj.; world wisdom. illiberality; meanness &c. adj. time-pleaser, time-server; tuft-hunter, fortune-hunter; jobber, worldling; egotist, egoist, monopolist, nepotist; dog in the manger, charity that begins at home; canis in praesepi[Lat], "foes to nobleness," temporizer, trimmer. V. be selfish &c. adj.; please oneself, indulge oneself, coddle oneself; consult one's own wishes, consult one's own pleasure; look after one's own interest; feather one's nest; take care of number one, have an eye to the main chance, know on which side one's bread is buttered; give an inch and take an ell. Adj. selfish; self-seeking, self-indulgent, self-interested, self- centered; wrapped up in self, wrapt up in self[obs3], centered in self; egotistic, egotistical; egoistical[obs3]. illiberal, mean, ungenerous, narrow-minded; mercenary, venal; covetous &c. 819. unspiritual, earthly, earthly-minded; mundane; worldly, worldly- minded; worldly-wise; timeserving[obs3]. interested; alieni appetens sui profusus[Lat]. Adv. ungenerously &c. adj.; to gain some private ends, from interested motives. Phr. apres nous le deluge[Fr].
#944. Virtue.—N. virtue; virtuousness &c. adj.; morality; moral rectitude; integrity &c. (probity) 939; nobleness &c. 873. morals; ethics &c. (duty) 926; cardinal virtues. merit, worth, desert, excellence, credit; self-control &c. (resolution) 604; self-denial &c. (temperance) 953. well-doing; good actions, good behavior; discharge of duty, fulfillment of duty, performance of duty; well-spent life; innocence &c. 946. V. be virtuous &c. adj.; practice virtue &c.n.; do one's duty, fulfill one's duty, perform one's duty, discharge one's duty; redeem one's pledge, keep one's promise &c. 926; act well, act one's part; fight the good fight; acquit oneself well; command one's passions, master one's passions; keep in the right path. set an example, set a good example; be on one's good behavior, be on one's best behavior. Adj. virtuous, good; innocent &c. 946; meritorious, deserving, worthy, desertful[obs3], correct; dutiful, duteous; moral; right, righteous, right- minded; well-intentioned, creditable, laudable, commendable, praiseworthy; above all praise, beyond all praise; excellent, admirable; sterling, pure, noble; whole-souled[obs3]. exemplary; matchless, peerless; saintly, saint-like; heaven-born, angelic, seraphic, godlike. Adv. virtuously &c, adj.; e merito[Lat]. Phr. esse quam videri bonus malebat [Lat][Sallust]; Schonheit vergeht Tugend besteht[Ger]; "virtue the greatest of all monarchies" [Swift]; virtus laudatur et alget [Lat][obs3][Juvenal]; virtus vincit invidiam[Lat].
#945. Vice.—N. vice; evil-doing, evil courses; wrongdoing; wickedness, viciousness &c. adj.; iniquity, peccability[obs3], demerit; sin, Adam|!; old Adam[obs3], offending Adam[obs3]. immorality, impropriety, indecorum, scandal, laxity, looseness of morals; enphagy[obs3], dophagy[obs3], exophagy[obs3]; want of principle, want of ballast; obliquity, backsliding, infamy, demoralization, pravity[obs3], depravity, pollution; hardness of heart; brutality &c. (malevolence) 907; corruption &c. (debasement) 659; knavery &c. (improbity) 940[obs3]; profligacy; flagrancy, atrocity; cannibalism; lesbianism, Sadism. infirmity; weakness &c. adj.; weakness of the flesh, frailty, imperfection; error; weak side; foible; failing, failure; crying sin, besetting sin; defect, deficiency; cloven foot. lowest dregs of vice, sink of iniquity, Alsatian den[obs3]; gusto picaresco[It]. fault, crime; criminality &c. (guilt) 947. sinner &c. 949. [Resorts] brothel &c. 961; gambling house &c. 621; joint*, opium den, shooting gallery, crack house. V. be vicious &c. adj.; sin, commit sin, do amiss, err, transgress; misdemean oneself[obs3], forget oneself, misconduct oneself; misdo[obs3], misbehave; fall, lapse, slip, trip, offend, trespass; deviate from the line of duty, deviate from the path of virtue &c. 944; take a wrong course, go astray; hug a sin, hug a fault; sow one's wild oats. render vicious &c. adj.; demoralize, brutalize; corrupt &c. (degrade) 659. Adj. vicious[1]; sinful; sinning &c.v.; wicked, iniquitous, immoral, unrighteous, wrong, criminal; naughty, incorrect; unduteous[obs3], undutiful. unprincipled, lawless, disorderly, contra bonos mores[Lat], indecorous, unseemly, improper; dissolute, profligate, scampish; unworthy; worthless; desertless[obs3]; disgraceful, recreant; reprehensible, blameworthy, uncommendable; discreditable, disreputable; Sadistic. base, sinister, scurvy, foul, gross, vile, black, grave, facinorous|, felonious, nefarious, shameful, scandalous, infamous, villainous, of a deep dye, heinous; flagrant, flagitious; atrocious, incarnate, accursed. Mephistophelian, satanic, diabolic, hellish, infernal, stygian, fiendlike[obs3], hell-born, demoniacal, devilish, fiendish. miscreated[obs3], misbegotten; demoralized, corrupt, depraved. evil-minded, evil-disposed; ill-conditioned; malevolent &c. 907; heartless, graceless, shameless, virtueless; abandoned, lost to virtue; unconscionable; sunk in iniquity, lost in iniquity, steeped in iniquity. incorrigible, irreclaimable, obdurate, reprobate, past praying for; culpable, reprehensible &c. (guilty) 947. unjustifiable; indefensible, inexcusable; inexpiable, unpardonable, irremissible[obs3]. weak, frail, lax, infirm, imperfect; indiscrete; demoralizing, degrading. Adv. wrong; sinfully &c. adj.; without excuse. Int. O tempora[obs3]! O mores! Phr. alitur vitium vivitque tegendo [Lat][obs3][Vergil]; genus est mortis male vivere [Lat][Ovid]; mala mens malus animus [Lat][Terence]; nemo repente fuit turpissimus[Lat]; "the trail of the serpent is over them all" [Moore]; "to sanction vice and hunt decorum down" [Bryon].
[Note 1 - Most of these adjectives are applicable both to the act and to the agent.].
#946. Innocence.—N. innocence; guiltlessness &c. adj.;
incorruption, impeccability.
clean hands, clear conscience, mens sibi conscia recti [Lat][Vergil].
innocent, lamb, dove.
V. be innocent &c. adj; nil conscire sibi nulla pallescere culpa
[Lat][Horace].
acquit &c. 970; exculpate &c. (vindicate) 937.
Adj. innocent, not guilty; unguilty[obs3]; guiltless, faultless,
sinless, stainless, bloodless, spotless; clear, immaculate; rectus in
curia[Lat]; unspotted, unblemished, unerring; undefiled &c. 939;
unhardened[obs3], Saturnian; Arcadian &c. (artless) 703[obs3].
inculpable, unculpable[obs3]; unblamed, unblamable[obs3]; blameless,
unfallen[obs3], inerrable[obs3], above suspicion; irreproachable,
irreprovable[obs3], irreprehensible[obs3]; unexceptionable,
unobjectionable, unimpeachable; salvable[obs3]; venial &c. 937.
harmless; inoffensive, innoxious[obs3], innocuous; dove-like, lamb-
like; pure, harmless as doves; innocent as a lamb, innocent as the babe
unborn; "more sinned against than sinning" [Lear].
virtuous &c. 944; unreproved[obs3], unimpeached, unreproached[obs3].
Adv. innocently &c. adj.; with clean hands; with a clear conscience,
with a safe conscience.
Phr. murus aeneus conscientia sana [Lat][obs3][Horace].
#947. Guilt.—N. guilt, guiltiness; culpability; criminality, criminousness[obs3]; deviation from rectitude &c. (improbity) 940[obs3]; sinfulness &c. (vice) 945. misconduct, misbehavior, misdoing, misdeed; malpractice, fault, sin, error, transgression; dereliction, delinquency; indiscretion, lapse, slip, trip, faux pas[Fr], peccadillo; flaw, blot, omission; failing, failure; break, bad break |![U.S.], capital crime, delictum[Lat]. offense, trespass; misdemeanor, misfeasance, misprision; malefaction, malfeasance, malversation; crime, felony. enormity, atrocity, outrage; deadly sin, mortal sin; "deed without a name" [Macbeth]. corpus delicti. Adj. guilty, to blame, culpable, peccable[obs3], in fault, at fault, censurable, reprehensible, blameworthy, uncommendable, illaudable[obs3]; weighed in the balance and found wanting; exceptionable. Adv. in flagrante delicto[Lat]; red-handed, in the very act, with one's hand in the cookie jar. Phr. cui prodest scelus in fecit [Lat][Seneca]; culpam paena premit comes [Lat][Horace]; "O would the deed were good!" [Richard II]; "responsibility prevents crimes" se judice nemo nocens absolvitur [Lat][Burke;][Juvenal]; "so many laws argues so many sins" [Paradise Lost].
#948. Good Man.—N. good man, honest man, worthy.
good woman, perfect lady, Madonna.
model, paragon &c. (perfection) 650; good example; hero, heroine,
demigod, seraph, angel; innocent &c. 946; saint &c. (piety) 987; benefactor
&c. 912; philanthropist &c. 910; Aristides[obs3]; noble liver|!, pattern.
brick*, trump*, gem, jewel, good fellow, prince, diamond in the rough,
rough diamond, ugly duckling|!.
salt of the earth; one in ten thousand; one in a million; a gentleman
and a scholar; pillar of society, pillar of the community, a man among men.
Phr. si sic omnes[Lat]!
#949. Bad Man.—N. bad man, wrongdoer, worker of iniquity; evildoer &c. 913; sinner; the wicked &c. 945; bad example. villain, rascal, scoundrel, miscreant, budmash[obs3], caitiff|!; wretch, reptile, viper, serpent, cockatrice, basilisk, urchin; tiger|!, monster; devil &c. (demon) 980; devil incarnate; demon in human shape, Nana Sahib; hellhound, hellcat; rakehell[obs3]. bad woman, jade, Jezebel. scamp, scapegrace, rip, runagate, ne'er-do-well, reprobate, scalawag, scallawag. rou[French], rake; Sadist; skeesicks*[obs3], skeezix* [obs3][U.S.]; limb; one who has sold himself to the devil, fallen angel, ame damnee[Fr], vaurien[obs3], mauvais sujet[Fr], loose fish, sad dog; rounder*; lost sheep, black sheep; castaway, recreant, defaulter; prodigal &c. 818. rough, rowdy, hooligan, tough, ugly customer, mean mother [coll.], ruffian, bully, meanie [jocular]; Jonathan Wild; hangman. incendiary, arsonist, fire bug [U.S.]. thief &c. 792; murderer, terrorist &c. 361. [person who violates the criminal law] culprit, delinquent, crook, hoodlum, hood, criminal, thug, malefactor, offender, perpetrator, perp [coll.]; disorderly person, misdemeanant[Law]; outlaw; scofflaw; vandal; felon[convicted criminal]; convict, prisoner, inmate, jail bird, ticket of leave man; multiple offender. blackguard, polisson[obs3], loafer, sneak; rapscallion, rascallion[obs3]; cullion[obs3], mean wretch, varlet, kern[obs3], ame-de- boue[Fr], drole[obs3]; cur, dog, hound|!, whelp|!, mongrel|!; lown|!, loon, runnion[obs3], outcast, vagabond; rogue &c. (knave) 941; ronian[obs3]; scum of the earth, riffraff; Arcades ambo[obs3]. Int. sirrah[obs3]! Phr. Acherontis pabulum[obs3]; gibier de potence[Fr].
#950. Penitence.—N. penitence, contrition, compunction, repentance, remorse; regret &c. 833. self-reproach, self-reproof, self-accusation, self-condemnation, self- humiliation; stings of conscience, pangs of conscience, qualms of conscience, prickings of conscience[obs3], twinge of conscience, twitch of conscience, touch of conscience, voice of conscience; compunctious visitings of nature[obs3]. acknowledgment, confession &c. (disclosure) 529; apology &c. 952; recantation &c. 607; penance &c. 952; resipiscence|!. awakened conscience, deathbed repentance, locus paenitentiae[Lat], stool of repentance, cuttystool[obs3]. penitent, repentant, Magdalen, prodigal son, "a sadder and a wiser man" [Coleridge]. V. repent, be sorry for; be penitent &c. adj.; rue; regret &c. 833; think better of; recant &c. 607; knock under &c. (submit) 725; plead guilty; sing miserere[Lat], sing de profundis[Lat]; cry peccavi; own oneself in the wrong; acknowledge, confess &c, (disclose) 529; humble oneself; beg pardon &c. (apologize) 952; turn over a new leaf, put on the new man, turn from sin; reclaim; repent in sackcloth and ashes &c, (do penance) 952; learn by experience. Adj. penitent; repenting &c.v.; repentant, contrite; conscience- smitten, conscience-stricken; self-accusing, self-convicted. penitential, penitentiary; reclaimed, reborn; not hardened; unhardened[obs3]. Adv. mea culpa. Phr. peccavi; erubuit[Lat]; salva res est [Lat][Terence]; Tu l'as voulu[Fr], Georges Dandin; "and wet his grave with my repentant tears" [Richard III].
#951. Impenitence.—N. impenitence, irrepentance[obs3],
recusance[obs3]; lack of contrition.
hardness of heart, seared conscience, induration, obduracy.
V. be impenitent &c. adj.; steel the heart, harden the heart; die
game, die and make no sign, die unshriven, die without benefit of clergy.
Adj. impenitent, uncontrite, obdurate; hard, hardened; seared,
recusant; unrepentant; relentless, remorseless, graceless,
shriftless[obs3].
lost, incorrigible, irreclaimable.
unreconstructed, unregenerate, unreformed; unrepented[obs3],
unreclaimed[obs3], unatoned.