19 April 2016

obliquity

[uh-blik-wi-tee, oh-blik-]

noun, plural obliquities.

1. the state of being oblique.
2. divergence from moral conduct, rectitude, etc.; immorality, dishonesty, or the like.
3. an instance of such divergence.
4.mental perversity.
5. an instance of mental perversity.
6. an inclination or a degree of inclination.
7. a confusing or obscure statement or passage of writing, especially one deliberately made obscure.

Origin of obliquity

late Middle English Middle French Latin
1375-1425; late Middle English obliquitee < Middle French obliquite < Latin oblīquitās, equivalent to oblīqu (us) oblique + -itās -ity

Related forms

obliquitous, adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for obliquity

Historical Examples

He saw no reason why he should not push on; and in the Egyptian obliquity of his heart, he ‘whaled’ his ass to a degree.
The Knickerbocker, Vol. 10, No. 6, December 1837
Various

The obliquity of vision of the European residents on all these points is extraordinary.
Appearances
Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson

I do not think they mean any harm: at least, I can look at this obliquity with indifference in my own particular case.
Table-Talk
William Hazlitt

Variation in obliquity of the ecliptic; about 47″ in 100 years.
Astronomical Curiosities
J. Ellard Gore

On the anomaly of the Prcession of the quinoxes, & of the obliquity of the Zodiack.
On the magnet, magnetick bodies also, and on the great magnet the earth
William Gilbert of Colchester

What utter heartlessness too, and what obliquity of moral vision does it exhibit.
Discussion on American Slavery
George Thompson

Anagram

by oil quit
boy I quilt

Today’s quote

Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.

– Oscar Wilde

On this day

19 April 1987 – The Simpsons is first aired on television in the United States.

19 April 1993 – 70 members of the cult Branch Davidian sect, led by David Koresh, perish following a fire at their Waco compound. It is believed they lit the fire deliberately as federal agents stormed the compound following a siege that began in February 1993.

19 April 1995 – Terrorist Timothy McVeigh detonates a bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children, and injuring 680 people. McVeigh was executed by lethal injection on 11 June 2001.