What's the difference between blackguard and unprincipled?

Blackguard


Definition:

  • (n.) The scullions and lower menials of a court, or of a nobleman's household, who, in a removal from one residence to another, had charge of the kitchen utensils, and being smutted by them, were jocularly called the "black guard"; also, the servants and hangers-on of an army.
  • (n.) The criminals and vagrants or vagabonds of a town or community, collectively.
  • (n.) A person of stained or low character, esp. one who uses scurrilous language, or treats others with foul abuse; a scoundrel; a rough.
  • (n.) A vagrant; a bootblack; a gamin.
  • (v. t.) To revile or abuse in scurrilous language.
  • (a.) Scurrilous; abusive; low; worthless; vicious; as, blackguard language.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Here he is on the Nasty Party in 1835, in a letter to Catherine Hogarth (soon to take the name Dickens, as his wife): "... a ruthless set of bloody-minded villains... perfect savage... superlative blackguards..." Two days later he ended another letter: "P.S.

Unprincipled


Definition:

  • (a.) Being without principles; especially, being without right moral principles; also, characterized by absence of principle.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) An unprincipled coward with the backbone of an amoeba."
  • (2) And Miliband, through his distaste for much of what New Labour did, “made it acceptable for Labour to rubbish its own achievements and treat winning elections as unprincipled”.
  • (3) , that argues Australia’s approach to human rights “too often has been passive and, of greater concern ... at times ... inconsistent and unprincipled”.
  • (4) Why Livingstone is not recognised as one of the most unprincipled demagogues in Britain after this performance – why, indeed, Labour has not expelled him – is one of the wonders of the age.
  • (5) We’re talking about a very positive response by the public in terms of determination to register and vote but, you know, this has been one of the most vicious, unprincipled, vulgar and violent election exercises I have ever witnessed,” Soyinka reflected sadly.
  • (6) Femi Fani-Kayode, spokesman for the PDP presidential campaign, told Nigeria’s Channels television: “One thing we can all agree on is this is a very close election, probably the closest election in the history of Nigeria , but we believe at the end of the day we will pull through.” Nigerian laureate Wole Soyinka laments ‘vicious, unprincipled’ election Read more He complained of irregularities, however, including alleged APC voters who were underage or brought in from neighbouring Chad and Niger.
  • (7) Annas discusses the importance of In re A.C. in situations where physicians turn to the courts to force compliance from competent pregnant women, a use of the judiciary that Annas calls "counterproductive, unprincipled, sexist, and repressive."
  • (8) If the Tories really want a cynical unprincipled opportunist as leader, at least they know where to look.
  • (9) We have waited 10 years to be told that the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, is an unprincipled thug.
  • (10) Strong commitment at the center of the party to deals seen as unscrupulous and unprincipled by supporters was a train wreck waiting to happen.
  • (11) People call him wolf; he’s seen as unprincipled and rapacious,” said Louisa Lim, a Hong Kong native and author of People’s Republic of Amnesia, a book about the 1989 Tiananmen protests.
  • (12) I hope parliament will also debate seriously the delegation of the payment of a welfare benefit from a department of state to a public broadcaster, and reject this unprincipled move.
  • (13) In his view, the judges "justified their brutal and unprincipled opinion on the basis that [A.C.] was almost dead," and therefore the fetus's interests outweighed hers.
  • (14) Cameron laughs, takes a beat to consider how to answer, then effectively endorses her characterisation of Johnson as a man driven only by his unprincipled ambition: “It was a very good debate.
  • (15) None of these changes can be expected under the influence of Donald Trump, who sees the truth as tractable, promotes his sexism and narcissism as assets, and in the end, is excessively volatile and unprincipled.
  • (16) All Scandinavian countries are fond of looking down on their neighbours as unprincipled.
  • (17) George Galloway has launched a furious attack on Ed Miliband, describing the Labour leader as "an unprincipled coward with the backbone of an amoeba", after the Respect MP was criticised by him.
  • (18) Such a situation would be unsettlingly reminiscent of 1936, when the centre and the left – notably in France – temporarily halted the swing to fascism but formed an unprincipled and ineffective coalition.
  • (19) It is of no legal consequence because as everybody knows in the Westminster system other than with a reserve power the governor general acts on the advice of his or her ministers.” In a pitch to crossbench senators considering the motion, Abetz said: “It is disgraceful, it is beyond belief, that the Labor party has become so unprincipled in their defence of corrupt union activity that they would go down this track and I trust that the independent senators will not fall for that stunt by Labor.” The Greens are likely to support the motion, meaning Labor needs support from four of the eight crossbench senators to pass it.
  • (20) Nor did Obama have much to say in a speech dominated by nitty-gritty domestic concerns on the other big international issues of the day, whether the problem be climate change (mostly ignored) or China's unprincipled rise (skirted around).