ungodly

CEFRB2

/ʌnˈɡɒdli/

adjective · adverb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Very bad or shocking, or not religious.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Extreme; unreasonable.

Examples

  • Why must you call me at such ungodly hours?

  • You can't use your sadness as an excuse to be ungodly.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Immoral, sinful, or wicked.

  2. Of a person: lacking reverence for God; of an action: not in accordance with God's will or religious teachings.

adverb

Extra meaning

  1. In an impious, irreverent, or ungodly manner; ungodlily.

More examples

In context

  • People often turn to ungodly ideas as an emotional response to trauma.

  • We had to start our journey at an ungodly hour.

  • [...] Calvinism gave a much more radical development to its Law of Nature. It successfully established the principle of the right of resistance, which must be exercised on behalf of the word of God in the face of ungodly authorities, [...]

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

We had to leave at an blank hour, long before sunrise, to catch the flight.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Middle English ungodli [and other forms], from un- (prefix meaning ‘not’), + godli (“belonging to God; resembling God, godlike”). Godli is derived from Old English godlīċ (“divine, godlike; godly”), from god (“god”) + -līċ (“suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘characteristic of, pertaining to’”). The English word may be analysed as un- + godly, and is cognate with Middle Dutch ongodelijc (modern Dutch ongoddelijk), Middle High German ungötlich (modern German ungöttlich), Old Norse óguðligr (“ungodly”) (Danish ugudelig, Icelandic óguðlegur), Swedish ogudlig.