iniquity

From Middle English iniquite, from Old French iniquité, from Latin iniquitas, from iniquus (“unjust, harmful”), from in- + aequus (“equal”). Compare inequity.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈɪk.wɪ.ti/

iniquity (countable and uncountable, plural iniquities)

1. Deviation from what is right; wickedness, gross injustice.
   • 1603, William Shakespeare, Othello, Act IV, sc. 1:

     If you are ſo fond ouer her iniquitie : giue her pattent to offend, for it it touch not you, it comes neere no body.

   • 1611, King James Version, Job 15:15–16:

     Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?

   • 1994, Jules, Pulp Fiction,

     The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men.

   • 2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner's punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a frippery when set against the burden that her bereft parents, June and Barry, must carry [print version: No room for sentimentality in this tragedy, 13 September 2014, p. S22]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport)‎:

     But ever since the concept of "hamartia" recurred through Aristotle's Poetics, in an attempt to describe man's ingrained iniquity, our impulse has been to identify a telling defect in those brought suddenly and dramatically low.

2. An unfair act or unconscionable deed.
3. Hostility, malevolence, lawlessness.
4. Denial of the sovereignty of God.

• “iniquity” (US) / “iniquity” (UK) in Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press.