Meanings
- CatholicismDescribing a doctrine or proposition that is not heretical, but formulated improperly or ambiguously and hence liable to cause scandal. A formal censure.
An investigatory commission in Oxford in 1378 declared that some of Wycliffe’s criticism were not incorrect in se but could be offensive to pious ears.
2009, Christopher M. Bellitto, “The Reform Context of the Great Western Schism”, in Joëlle Rollo-Koster, Thomas M. Izbicki, editors, A Companion to the Great Western Schism (1378–1417), →ISBN, page 3172 more examples
And Bishop Ullathorne concluded by condemning the journal as “containing propositions which are respectively subversive of the faith, heretical, approaching to heresy, erroneous, derogatory to the teaching of the Church, and offensive to pious ears.”
1910, William John Sparrow-Simpson, Roman Catholic Opposition to Papal Infallibility, page 121It is therefore impossible from Exsurge Domine alone to determine whether proposition 36 is condemned as heretical or merely as “offensive to pious ears.”
1969, Harry J. McSorley, Luther: Right or Wrong? An Ecumenical-Theological Study of Luther’s Major Work, The Bondage of the Will, page 252
Origin
- Ecclesiastical Latinpiārum aurium offēnsīvus
- Englishoffensive to pious ears
Calque of Ecclesiastical Latin piārum aurium offēnsīvus.
More words from Ecclesiastical Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
offensive to pious ears. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/offensive%20to%20pious%20ears
“offensive to pious ears.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/offensive%20to%20pious%20ears. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “offensive to pious ears,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/offensive%20to%20pious%20ears.
Source: offensive to pious ears on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.