REPROBATE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does reprobate mean? 

• REPROBATE (noun)
  The noun REPROBATE has 1 sense:

1. a person without moral scruples

  Familiarity information: REPROBATE used as a noun is very rare.

• REPROBATE (adjective)
  The adjective REPROBATE has 1 sense:

1. deviating from what is considered moral or right or proper or good

  Familiarity information: REPROBATE used as an adjective is very rare.

• REPROBATE (verb)
  The verb REPROBATE has 3 senses:

1. reject (documents) as invalid

2. abandon to eternal damnation

3. express strong disapproval of

  Familiarity information: REPROBATE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• REPROBATE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A person without moral scruples

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

miscreant; reprobate

Hypernyms ("reprobate" is a kind of...):

offender; wrongdoer (a person who transgresses moral or civil law)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "reprobate"):

degenerate; deviant; deviate; pervert (a person whose behavior deviates from what is acceptable especially in sexual behavior)

black sheep; scapegrace (a reckless and unprincipled reprobate)

wretch (performs some wicked deed)

Derivation:

reprobate (deviating from what is considered moral or right or proper or good)

• REPROBATE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Deviating from what is considered moral or right or proper or good

Synonyms:

depraved; perverse; perverted; reprobate

Context example:

the reprobate conduct of a gambling aristocrat

Similar:

corrupt (lacking in integrity)

Derivation:

reprobate (a person without moral scruples)

• REPROBATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they reprobate    ... he / she / it reprobates   
Past simple: reprobated   
Past participle: reprobated   
-ing form: reprobating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Reject (documents) as invalid

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "reprobate" is one way to...):

reject (refuse to accept or acknowledge)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Antonym:

approbate (accept (documents) as valid)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Abandon to eternal damnation

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

God reprobated the unrepenting sinner

Hypernyms (to "reprobate" is one way to...):

condemn; doom; sentence (pronounce a sentence on (somebody) in a court of law)

Domain category:

theological system; theology (a particular system or school of religious beliefs and teachings)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

reprobation (rejection by God; the state of being condemned to eternal misery in Hell)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Express strong disapproval of

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

condemn; decry; excoriate; objurgate; reprobate

Context example:

These ideas were reprobated

Hypernyms (to "reprobate" is one way to...):

denounce (speak out against)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

reprobation (severe disapproval)

 Context examples 

Here was again a something of the same Mr. Crawford whom she had so reprobated before.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The old reprobate with the surplice burst into a volley of bad language.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But I had soon reason to repent those foolish words: for that malicious reprobate, having often endeavoured in vain to persuade both the captains that I might be thrown into the sea (which they would not yield to, after the promise made me that I should not die), however, prevailed so far, as to have a punishment inflicted on me, worse, in all human appearance, than death itself.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I returned home not disappointed, for I have said that I had long considered those authors useless whom the professor reprobated; but I returned not at all the more inclined to recur to these studies in any shape.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Mrs Clay, said she, warmly, never forgets who she is; and as I am rather better acquainted with her sentiments than you can be, I can assure you, that upon the subject of marriage they are particularly nice, and that she reprobates all inequality of condition and rank more strongly than most people.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

She had led her friend astray, and it would be a reproach to her for ever; but her judgment was as strong as her feelings, and as strong as it had ever been before, in reprobating any such alliance for him, as most unequal and degrading.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

To attach myself to your sister, therefore, was not a thing to be thought of;—and with a meanness, selfishness, cruelty—which no indignant, no contemptuous look, even of yours, Miss Dashwood, can ever reprobate too much—I was acting in this manner, trying to engage her regard, without a thought of returning it.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Why did such an idea occur to her even enough to be reprobated and forbidden?

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

It was not in compliment to Jane Fairfax however that he was so indifferent, or so indignant; he was not guided by her feelings in reprobating the ball, for she enjoyed the thought of it to an extraordinary degree.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

With a graver look and voice she then added, 'I do not mean to defend Henry at your sister's expense.' So she began, but how she went on, Fanny, is not fit, is hardly fit to be repeated to you. I cannot recall all her words. I would not dwell upon them if I could. Their substance was great anger at the folly of each. She reprobated her brother's folly in being drawn on by a woman whom he had never cared for, to do what must lose him the woman he adored; but still more the folly of poor Maria, in sacrificing such a situation, plunging into such difficulties, under the idea of being really loved by a man who had long ago made his indifference clear.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)