REPROBATE

[Dr. Goodword]

• reprobate •


Pronunciation: re-prê-beyt

Part of Speech: Transitive verb, Adjective, Noun

Meaning: 1. [Verb] To rebuke, admonish, condemn. 2. [Adjective] Morally corrupt, condemned to eternally. 3. [Noun] A person so morally corrupt as to be already condemned to eternal damnation.

Notes: The Good Word today is a close kinsword of verb reprove "rebuke, admonish". The verb reprobate, which has the same meaning, was borrowed directly from Latin, while reprove came to us through the softening processes of French. In addition to using this word as all three major parts of speech, there is a derived noun, reprobation and an adjective, reprobative, which means pretty much the same as the adjective, reprobate.

In Play: Well, this is a good word not to play with; deploy it carefully: "He was officially reprobated by his company for taking kickbacks under the table." The adjective is equally powerful, "She fell in love with a reprobate laundry man who took her to the cleaners." You shouldn't use the noun lightly, either: "Half the kids in town look like the old reprobate."

Word History: In Middle English today's word meant "condemned". It was taken from Late Latin reprobatus, the past participle of reprobare "to reprove, admonish", a word based on re- "opposite" + probare "to approve". Probare comes from Latin probus "upright", which underlies English probity "uprightness, good moral character". In French, reprobare became today's réprouver with the same meaning as its English counterpart.

[Apoclima]

Nice! Reprobate is one of my favorite swear words!

"Reprobates and the women who love them."

Apo

[M. Henri Day]

• reprobate •...

Meaning: ... 2. [Adjective] Morally corrupt, condemned to eternally. ...

Please, dear Dr Goodword, don't leave us in excruciating suspense - what's the missing verb ?!!

Henri

[Apoclima]

Good question, Henri!

"He was officially reprobated by his company for taking kickbacks under the table."

Is this a passive construction?

Can we say?:

His company officially reprobated him for taking kickbacks under the table.

This doesn't sound right to me! But, perhaps it is!

He reprobates and punishes them for their sins, because that, in spite of all he could wisely do to reclaim them, they would remain in their sins.

REPROBATION
by the Rev. CHARLES G. FINNEY

Sitran

[M. Henri Day]

My guess is that the verb(s) employed will be mainly culinary, i e, «fried», «stewed», «roasted», «boiled», etc ; obviously the concept of sin makes people hungry. But let us see what our good doctor comes up with....

Henri

[Flaminius]

Apo,
I think I have read "reprobate" in active voice in some text by one of the man of letters of 18th century England. If your example sentense, "His company officially reprobated him for taking kickbacks under the table," poses some difficulty of parsing, I should imagine the impersonal subject has a lot to do with it. How does the following sentence sound (or read) to your judgement?

The king reprobated his minister for taking bribes under the table.

Flam

[M. Henri Day]

...

The king reprobated his minister for taking bribes under the table.

- But forgave him when he promised to take all bribes over the table in the future....

Henri

PS : - and split the take, of course....

[Apoclima]

Not sure!

It sounds awkward to me in any case, though it may be correct usage!

I think the passive sounds "moderne," while the active sounds archaic.

"The minister was reprobated by his king....."

We'll see what the Doc says!

Apo

[M. Henri Day]

...

It sounds awkward to me in any case, though it may be correct usage!

...

The use of «reprobate» as a verb sounds awkward to my ears as well. I prefer the shorter «reprove» (improved as it were, by its passage through French) as the verb («The king reproved his minister»), and «reprobate» as the noun, as in «old reprobate» (present company, as always, excepted)....

Henri

[Perry Lassiter]

Another digging out from '05. I don't remember ever hearing nor reading reprobate used as a verb. Nor do I have the impression of its always being so serious. The most common usage I encounter is "that old reprobate" most often in an affectionate tone, but also sometimes desparingly.