cacoethics

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English

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Etymology

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From caco- +‎ ethics.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˌkakəʊˈɛθɪks/
  • Hyphenation: caco‧ethics

Noun

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cacoethics (uncountable)

  1. Bad ethics or morals; bad habits.
    • 1885, Punch, volumes 88–89, →OCLC, page 1:
      The correspondence appears to have begun in one of the endless foolishnesses about contemporary novel-writing which appear to beguile the leisure of so many of our modern Cacoëthics.
    • 2014 March 3, M. F. Dail, Limbodeswills Wain, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Trafford Publishing, →ISBN:
      In the ensuing clashes between nouveau-cons and their more or less double-crossed doppelgangers, taking the part of either is to administer the kiss of life to a dying tradition or breathing new life into cacoethics.

Usage notes

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Not to be confused with cacoethes ("compulsion; mania", or "a bad quality or disposition in a disease; a malignant tumour or ulcer") or its adjective cacoethic.