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ondition or quality of being crooked; hence, deformity of body or of mind; deviation from moral rectitude; perverseness.

Deserving censure; worthy of blame; faulty; immoral; criminal. State Trials (1413). If he acts according to the best reason he hath, he is not culpable, though he be mistaken in his measures. Sharp.

The state of being cultivated; advancement in physical, intellectual, or moral condition; refinement; culture. Italy . . . was but imperfectly reduced to cultivation before the irruption of the barbarians. Hallam.

The act of, or any labor or means employed for, training, disciplining, or refining the moral and intellectual nature of man; as. the culture of the mind. If vain our toil We ought to blame theculture, not the soil. Pepe.

Characterized by mental and moral training; disciplined; refined; well-educated. The sense of beauty in nature, even among cultured people, is less often met with than other mental endowments. I. Taylor. The cunning hand and cultured brain. Whittier.

s the statement proceeds. The argument . . . is in very truth not logical and single, but moral and cumulative. Trench.

doctrine cuts up all government by the roots." Locke. (c) To afflict; to discourage; to demoralize; as, the death of his friend cut him up terribly. [Colloq.] Thackeray.

Given to sneering at rectitude and the conduct of life by moral principles; disbelieving in the reality of any human purposes which are not suggested or directed by self-interest or self-indulgence; as, a cynical man who scoffs at pretensions of integrity; characterized by such opinions; as, cynical views of human natu…

amily of nations, numbering now more than 6,000,000, and found principally in Bohemia and Moravia.

e of fruit trees, etc. -- Dagger of lath, the wooden weapon given to the Vice in the old Moralities. Shak. -- Double dagger, a mark of reference [||] which comes next in order after the dagger. -- To look, or speak, daggers, to look or speak fiercely or reproachfully.

Destitute of knowledge and culture; in moral or intellectual darkness; unrefined; ignorant. The age wherin he lived was dark, but he Cobld not want light who taught the world oto see. Denhan. The tenth century used to be reckoned by mediæval historians as the darkest part of this intellectual night. Hallam.…

A state of ignorance or error, especially on moral or religious subjects; hence, wickedness; impurity. Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. John. iii. 19. Pursue these sons of darkness: drive them out From all heaven's bounds. Milton.

iversities of Oxford and Cambridge, England, who, besides other duties, has regard to the moral condition of the college. Shipley.

to withdraw; as, a line that declines from straightness; conduct that declines from sound morals. Yet do I not decline from thy testimonies. Ps. cxix. 157.

erson; to decorate an edifice; to decorate a lawn with flowers; to decorate the mind with moral beauties; to decorate a hero with honors. Her fat neck was ornamented with jewels, rich bracelets decorated her arms. Thackeray.

That which is profound, not easily fathomed, or incomprehensible; a moral or spiritual depth or abyss. Thy judgments are a great. Ps. xxxvi. 6. Deep of night, the most quiet or profound part of night; dead of night. The deep of night is crept upon our talk. Shak.

Failing; fault; imperfection, whether physical or moral; blemish; as, a defect in the ear or eye; a defect in timber or iron; a defect of memory or judgment. Trust not yourself; but, your defects to know, Make use of every friend -- any every foe. Pope. Among boys little tenderness is shown to personal defects. Macaula…

incomplete; lacking a part; deficient; imperfect; faulty; -- applied either to natural or moral qualities; as, a defective limb; defective timber; a defective copy or account; a defective character; defective rules.

The act of defiling, or state of being defiled, whether physically or morally; pollution; foulness; dirtiness; uncleanness. Defilements of the flesh. Hopkins. The chaste can not rake into such filth without danger of defilement. Addison.

The state of being reduced in rank, character, or reputation; baseness; moral, physical, or intellectual degeneracy; disgrace; abasement; debasement. The . . . degradation of a needy man of letters. Macaulay. Deplorable is the degradation of our nature. South. Moments there frequently must be, when a sidegradation of h…