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Literary notes about reprobate (AI summary)

The term “reprobate” is frequently deployed in literature to denote moral corruption or unredeemable behavior, often serving as a sharp denunciation of a character’s vices. In works marked by satirical wit and biting social commentary, it appears as a dismissive label for those whose actions or character fall far below accepted moral standards ([1], [2]). In religious and philosophical writings, the word carries a weightier connotation, indicating individuals forsaken by divine grace or condemned to a life of guilt ([3], [4]), while in dramatic literature it is used both humorously and critically to heighten the sense of moral decay ([5], [6]). Thus, across genres—from the picaresque to the sacred—“reprobate” encapsulates a potent mix of contempt and disapproval towards characters defined by their ethical failings ([7], [8]).
  1. Old Miss Crawley was certainly one of the reprobate.
    — from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
  2. What a clever little reprobate she was, and how smartly she played at injured innocence!
    — from Daisy Miller: A Study by Henry James
  3. And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are not convenient.
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
  4. Call them reprobate silver, for the Lord hath rejected them.
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
  5. By reprobate desire thus madly led, The Roman lord marcheth to Lucrece' bed.
    — from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
  6. What if we do omit This reprobate till he were well inclin'd, And satisfy the deputy with the visage Of Ragozine, more like to Claudio? DUKE.
    — from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
  7. Thou reprobate and blasphemer, who calumniatest the works of the Spirit— Tu improbus et blasphemus qui opera Spiritus calumniaris! ’
    — from Servetus and CalvinA Study of an Important Epoch in the Early History of the Reformation by Robert Willis
  8. un-hallowed, un-sanctified, un-regenerate; hardened, perverted, reprobate.
    — from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget

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