All 3 Uses of
righteous
in
The Iliad by Homer - (translated by: Edward)
- As in th' autumnal season, when the earth
With weight of rain is saturate; when Jove
Pours down his fiercest storms in wrath to men,
Who in their courts unrighteous judgments pass,
And justice yield to lawless violence,
The wrath of Heav'n despising; ev'ry stream
Is brimming o'er: the hills in gullies deep
Are by the torrents seam'd, which, rushing down
From the high mountains to the dark-blue sea,
With groans and tumult urge their headlong course,
Wasting the works of man; so urg'd their flight,
So, as they fled, the Trojan horses groan'd.†Chpt 2.16unrighteous = morally wrongstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unrighteous means not and reverses the meaning of righteous. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
- But fell Achilles all your aid commands;
Of mind unrighteous, and inflexible
His stubborn heart; his thoughts are all of blood;
E'en as a lion, whom his mighty strength
And dauntless courage lead to leap the fold,
And 'mid the trembling flocks to seize his prey;
E'en so Achilles hath discarded ruth,
And conscience, arbiter of good and ill.†Chpt 2.24 *
- The heralds still'd the tumult of the crowd:
On polish'd chairs, in solemn circle, sat
The rev'rend Elders; in their hands they held
The loud-voic'd heralds' sceptres; waving these,
They heard th' alternate pleadings; in the midst
Two talents lay of gold, which he should take
Who should before them prove his righteous cause.†Chpt 2.18
Definitions:
-
(1)
(righteous as in: a righteous cause) morally correct; or morally justified
or:
acting or feeling morally superior -- especially when it isn't true (this meaning is more typically seen as a compound word beginning with "self-") -
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Less commonly, righteous is used as a synonym for wonderful.