unprincipled

What it means

1. Lacking moral values.

   But side by side with it was a baser conspiracy, among the more unprincipled and desperate friends of James, for the assassination of the King.

   1890, James Franck Bright, edited by Rivingtons, A History of England, →ISBN, page 853

   2 more examples

   That’s what Joe Biden did. His pardon of his son Hunter was understandable from a paternal perspective (what father wants to see his son in prison?), but it was inexcusably unprincipled.

   2025 January 23, David French, “Donald Trump Is Running Riot”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 Jan 2025

   Early in his career, Trump apprenticed himself to Roy Cohn, an unprincipled lawyer who taught the young Trump how to gain wealth and influence through ruthless bullying, profane braggadocio, opportunistic bigotry, baseless lawsuits, lying, and more lying. Yet as Trump’s “fixer” with politicians, judges and mob bosses, Cohn remained utterly loyal to Trump and his father, Fred.

   2025 August 25, Robert Reich, “Why Trump built a staff of incompetent sycophants”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 25 Aug 2025

   Synonyms: licentious, immoral

In a sentence

But side by side with it was a baser conspiracy, among the more unprincipled and desperate friends of James, for the assassination of the King.

1890, James Franck Bright, edited by Rivingtons, A History of England, →ISBN, page 853

Where it comes from

1. Proto-Indo-European*né
2. Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
3. Proto-Germanic*un-
4. Proto-West Germanic*un-
5. Old Englishun-
6. Middle Englishun-
7. Englishun-
8. Englishprinciple
9. Englishprincipled
10. Englishunprincipled

From un- + principled.