obliquity
\ uh-BLIK-wi-tee, oh-BLIK- \ , noun;
1.divergence from moral conduct, rectitude, etc.; immorality, dishonesty, or the like.
2.the state of being oblique.
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.
8.Also called obliquity of the ecliptic . Astronomy . the angle between the plane of the earth's orbit and that of the earth's equator, equal to 23°27′; the inclination of the earth's equator.
Quotes:
But that is not all, that is not his worst defect; his worst defect is his perpetual moral obliquity , perpetual from the days of the Flood to the Schleswig Holstein period.
-- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Constance Garnett, Notes from Underground , 1864, translation published in 1918
…this obliquity is curious insofar as it gives birth to an upright form, whose very verticality absorbs its departure in slanting forms, and here there is a kind of agreeable challenge for the visitor…
-- Roland Barthes, "The Eiffel Tower," A Barthes Reader , 1982
A decade ago Hustvedt published a best-selling novel, "What I Loved," which reimagines the events with all the obliquity of an episode of "Law & Order."
-- Dana Goodyear, "Long Short Story," The New Yorker , March 17, 2014
Origin:
Obliquity is related to the Latin word oblīquitās which meant "oblique."
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