Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Recognizing or worshiping no god.
  • adjective Impious or immoral.
  • adjective Having no god.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having or acknowledging no God; impious; atheistical; ungodly; irreligious; wicked.
  • [capitalized] Lacking the presence of God; removed from divine care or cognizance; Godforsaken.
  • Synonyms Ungodly, Unrighteous, etc. See irreligious.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Having, or acknowledging, no God; without reverence for God; impious; wicked.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Not acknowledging any deity or god; without belief in any deity or god.
  • adjective An atheist.
  • adjective pejorative, slang evil, wicked, worldly.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective not revering god

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

god +‎ -less.

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Examples

  • His great ruling principle, however, originated in what he termed a godless system of religious liberality; in other words, he attributed all the calamities and scourges of the land to the influence of Popery. and its toleration by the powers that be.

    The Black Baronet; or, The Chronicles Of Ballytrain The Works of William Carleton, Volume One William Carleton 1831

  • Nice one Newt – secular (he went to church on Easter Sunday), socialist (he jettisoned the public option), why don't you thrown in 'godless communist' while you're at it.

    Gingrich to call on Republicans to offer new vision 2010

  • You know, the mother of WWE is running for Senate back here in godless Connecticut.

    If the Shroud of Turin is fake… « Dating Jesus 2009

  • It's hard to get reliable info on the US presidential and VP candidates over here in godless Euroland, but I have it on good authority that Palin had an extramarital affair, with a moose or possibly with McCain, who by the way left his disabled wife for a rich heiress and snitched on his fellow POWs.

    14 Important Science Questions 2008

  • June 28th, 2006 at 11:45 pm my 11:37 pm #205 – That should read: “and then someone calls her godless, also as an insult?”

    Firedoglake » It’s Bill Clinton’s Fault 2006

  • To characterize such a population as godless is insulting, to say the least.

    Letters to the Editor 2004

  • To characterize such a population as godless is insulting, to say the least.

    Letters to the Editor 2004

  • Says Schneider, sitting over coffee at Stella Caffé downtown, "It's surprisingly easy to find people with these stories in a place we often call a godless city."

    Seattle Weekly | Complete Issue 2010

  • Even long before the Roman State tried to check with violence the rapid encroachments of Christianity, Plate had declared it one of the supreme duties of the governmental authority in his ideal state to show no toleration towards the "godless" -- that is, towards those who denied the state religion -- even though they were content to live quietly and without proselytizing; their very example, he said would be dangerous.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 8: Infamy-Lapparent 1840-1916 1913

  • Leave alone that high schools would just laugh at the premise entirely (as would virtually everyone I know or interact with, maybe that’s the price of living in godless country), what justification is there for such a retrograde sexual repression?

    The Volokh Conspiracy » “Do ‘Family Values’ Weaken Families?” 2010

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