Improper vs Profane - What's the difference?
improper | profane |
unsuitable to needs or circumstances; inappropriate; inapt
Not in keeping with conventional mores or good manners; indecent or immodest
Not according to facts; inaccurate or erroneous
Not consistent with established facts; incorrect
Not properly named; See, for example, improper fraction
(obsolete) Not specific or appropriate to individuals; general; common.
* J. Fletcher
(obsolete) To appropriate; to limit.
* Jewel
(obsolete) To behave improperly
(Webster 1913)
Unclean; ritually impure; unholy, desecrating a holy place or thing.
* Sir Walter Raleigh
Not sacred or holy, unconsecrated; relating to non-religious matters, secular.
* I. Disraeli
* Gibbon
Treating sacred things with contempt, disrespect, irreverence, or undue familiarity; blasphemous, impious. Hence, specifically; Irreverent in language; taking the name of God in vain; given to swearing; blasphemous; as, a profane person, word, oath, or tongue.
* Bible, 1 Timothy 1:9
A person or thing that is profane.
* 1796 , Matthew Lewis, The Monk , Folio Society 1985, p. 244:
(freemasonry) A person not a Mason.
To violate, as anything sacred; to treat with abuse, irreverence, obloquy, or contempt; to desecrate; to pollute; as, to profane the name of God; to profane the Scriptures, or the ordinance of God.
* 1851 ,
To put to a wrong or unworthy use; to make a base employment of; to debase; to abuse; to defile.
As verbs the difference between improper and profane
is that improper is (obsolete|transitive) to appropriate; to limit while profane is .As an adjective improper
is unsuitable to needs or circumstances; inappropriate; inapt.improper
English
Alternative forms
* impropre (obsolete)Adjective
(en adjective)- Not to be adorned with any art but such improper ones as nature is said to bestow, as singing and poetry.
Derived terms
* improper divisor * improper face * improper fit * improper fraction * improper integral * improper motion * improper node * improper orthogonal transformation * improper rotation * improper use * improper workmanshipVerb
(en verb)- He would in like manner improper and inclose the sunbeams to comfort the rich and not the poor.
profane
English
Adjective
(en-adj)- Nothing is profane that serveth to holy things.
- profane authors
- The profane wreath was suspended before the shrine.
- a profane person, word, oath, or tongue
Synonyms
* (obscene) vulgar, inappropriate, obscene, debased, uncouth, offensive, ignoble, mean, lewd * secular * temporal * worldly * unsanctified * unhallowed * unholy * irreligious * irreverent * ungodly * wicked * godless * impiousAntonyms
* holy * sacredNoun
(en noun)- The nuns were employed in religious duties established in honour of St Clare, and to which no profane was ever admitted.
Verb
(profan)- With one mind, their intent eyes all fastened upon the old man’s knife, as he carved the chief dish before him. I do not suppose that for the world they would have profaned that moment with the slightest observation, even upon so neutral a topic as the weather.