Definition of "impropriety" []

• The quality or condition of being improper. (noun)
• An improper act. (noun)
• An improper or unacceptable usage in speech or writing. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Madame Jansoulet alone, newly landed in France with a stock of Oriental ideas impeding circulation in her mind, as her nargileh, her ostrich eggs and all the rest of her Tunisian trash impeded it in her apartments, protested against what she called impropriety, cowardice, and declared that she would never step foot inside "that creature's" doors."
• "Preventing the appearance of impropriety is important to help preserve whatever legitimacy you believe the Supreme Court still has."
• "Quite how he has managed to rise to power without acquiring the right antennae to spot this obvious impropriety is a matter for surmise but in the modern climate in which politicians find themselves, a general slackening of standards comes as no surprise."