reprobate

English

WOTD – 26 June 2010

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin reprobatus (“disapproved, rejected, condemned”), past participle of reprobare.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛpɹəbət/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Adjective

reprobate (comparative more reprobate, superlative most reprobate)

1. (rare) Rejected; cast off as worthless.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 6:30:

     Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.

2. Rejected by God; damned, sinful.
3. Immoral, having no religious or principled character.

   The reprobate criminal sneered at me.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     And strength, and art, are easily outdone / By spirits reprobate.

Translations

rejected

• Bulgarian: отхвърлен (bg) (othvǎrlen)
• Dutch: verworpen (nl), veroordeeld (nl)
• Estonian: hukkamõistetu
• Finnish: hylätty (fi)
• French: rejeté (fr), évincé (fr), condamné (fr), réprouvé (fr), blâmé (fr), flétri (fr), marginalisé (fr), banni (fr), blackboulé (fr), répudié (fr)
• German: zurückgewiesen (de), abgelehnt (de), aussortiert (de)
• Macedonian: о́тфрлен (ótfrlen), о́дбиен (ódbien)
• Norwegian: forkaste
• Portuguese: reprovado (pt)
• Scottish Gaelic: daoidh, dubhailceach
• Spanish: arrojado (es), excluido (es), desterrado (es), relegado (es), reprobado (es), desdichado (es), condenado (es), censurado (es), culpado (es), infamado (es)
• Turkish: reddedilmiş

rejected by God

• Dutch: verworpen (nl), verlaten (nl)
• Finnish: hylätty (fi), tuomittu (fi), kirottu (fi)
• French: maudit (fr), anathématisé (fr), réprouvé (fr), excommunié (fr), stigmatisé (fr)
• German: verworfen (de)
• Macedonian: о́суден (ósuden)
• Portuguese: réprobo (pt)
• Scottish Gaelic: daoidh, dubhalceach
• Spanish: maldito (es), anatematizado (es), reprobado (es), excomulgado (es), mancillado (es), manchado (es)
• Swedish: förtappad (sv)
• Turkish: lanetlenmiş, lanetli (tr)

immoral

• Bulgarian: безпътен (bg) (bezpǎten), развратен (bg) (razvraten)
• Dutch: immoreel (nl), verwerpelijk (nl)
• Finnish: moraaliton (fi)
• French: maudit (fr), infâme (fr), cynique (fr), immoral (fr)
• German: verkommen (de), verwerflich (de), verworfen (de), ruchlos (de)
• Greek: φαύλος (el) m (fávlos)
• Macedonian: ра́звратен (rázvraten)
• Portuguese: réprobo (pt)
• Russian: безнра́вственный (ru) (beznrávstvennyj), распу́тный (ru) (raspútnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: daoidh, dubhailceach, olc, droch-bheusach, ainbheusach
• Spanish: infame (es), inmundo (es), inmoral (es)
• Turkish: adi (tr), ahlâksız (tr), alçak (tr)

Noun

reprobate (plural reprobates)

1. One rejected by God; a sinful person.
   • 1643, John Milton, Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce:

     And the solitarines of man, which God had namely and principally orderd to prevent by mariage, hath no remedy, but lies under a worse condition then the loneliest single life; for in single life the absence and remotenes of a helper might inure him to expect his own comforts out of himselfe, or to seek with hope; but here the continuall sight of his deluded thoughts without cure, must needs be to him, if especially his complexion incline him to melancholy, a daily trouble and paine of losse in som degree like that which Reprobats feel.

2. A person with low morals or principles.
   • c. 1603, Walter Raleigh, Apology for the Voyage to Guiana:

     I acknowledge myself for a reprobate, a villain, a traitor to the king.

   • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 37, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

     [T]he young sinner took leave of Pen, and the club of the elder criminals, and sauntered into Blacquiere’s, an adjacent establishment, frequented by reprobates of his own age.

   • 1920, Herman Cyril McNeile, chapter 1, in Bulldog Drummond:

     "Good morning, Mrs. Denny," he said. "Wherefore this worried look on your face? Has that reprobate James been misbehaving himself?"

   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 50, on the Hammersmith & City line:

     West of here, it ascends to its viaduct where, 20 feet above the ground, the Westway seeks to emulate it; two scruffy reprobates shouldering their way through a not very pretty streetscape; the one a railway built by corporate buccaneers, the other a road constructed as part of a discredited plan to girdle London with motorways.

Related terms

• depraved

Translations

sinful person

• Bulgarian: грешник (bg) (grešnik)
• Dutch: zondaar (nl) m
• Finnish: syntinen (fi)
• German: Sünder (de) m
• Macedonian: гре́шник m (gréšnik), про́клетник m (prókletnik)
• Russian: нечести́вец (ru) m (nečestívec)
• Scottish Gaelic: daoidh m, droch-dhuine m, peacach m
• Turkish: günahkâr (tr)

individual with low morals

• Bulgarian: негодник (bg) m (negodnik)
• Dutch: onverlaat (nl) m, schurk (nl) m
• Finnish: heittiö (fi), hulttio (fi)
• German: Schurke (de) m, Gauner (de) m, Halunke (de) m
• Irish: alfraits f
• Macedonian: превр́тливец m (prevŕtlivec), ра́звратник m (rázvratnik)
• Portuguese: réprobo (pt) m
• Russian: негодя́й (ru) m (negodjáj), распу́тник (ru) m (raspútnik)
• Scottish Gaelic: daoidh m, droch-dhuine m
• Turkish: ahlâksız (tr), alçak (tr)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin reprobare, reprobatus. Doublet of reprove.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛpɹəbeɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Verb

reprobate (third-person singular simple present reprobates, present participle reprobating, simple past and past participle reprobated)

1. To have strong disapproval of something; to reprove; to condemn.
   • 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XLV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 274:

     Lord Rotheles allowed it was a very sufficient cause for returning soon, and reprobated all delays of letters, though he confessed to being a very idle correspondent;...

2. Of God: to abandon or reject, to deny eternal bliss.
3. To refuse, set aside.

Derived terms

• approbate and reprobate

Translations

condemn

• Bulgarian: порицавам (bg) (poricavam), осъждам (bg) (osǎždam)
• Czech: zavrhnout (cs)
• Dutch: verwerpen (nl), veroordelen (nl)
• Finnish: tuomita (fi)
• German: verdammen (de)
• Gothic: 𐌹𐌳𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (idweitjan)
• Greek: καταδικάζω (el) (katadikázo)
• Macedonian: о́суди (ósudi)
• Portuguese: reprovar (pt), condenar (pt)
• Romanian: reproba (ro)

abandon

• Dutch: verlaten (nl)
• Finnish: hylätä (fi)
• German: verlassen (de), für gottlos (de) erklären (de)
• Portuguese: reprovar (pt)

refuse

• Bulgarian: отхвърлям (bg) (othvǎrljam)
• Dutch: verwerpen (nl), weigeren (nl)
• Finnish: kieltää (fi), sivuuttaa (fi)
• German: verwerfen (de), verwehren (de), verweigern (de), ablehnen (de)
• Greek: απορρίπτω (el) (aporrípto)
• Macedonian: о́тфрли (ótfrli)
• Portuguese: reprovar (pt)

Anagrams

• perborate

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /re.proˈbaː.te/, [rɛprɔˈbäːt̪ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /re.proˈba.te/, [reproˈbäːt̪e]

Verb

reprobāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of reprobō

Spanish

Verb

reprobate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of reprobar combined with te