Crooked/unscrupulous

Question

HiCan I say: During war people are often crooked (instead of unscrupulous)?

Prajwalkr · Accepted Answer

NewguestCan I say: During war people are often crooked (instead of unscrupulous)?

Yes, they are synonymous. But avoid this usage in formal contexts.

Prajwal

Anonymous · Answer

Hello, Newguest:

IMHO (and some dictionaries may support me), there may be a difference sometimes.

"Crooked" means "dishonest" in the sense that a person has broken the law. For example, some taxicab drivers adjust the meter so that the fare is higher than it should be. They are crooked, period!

On the other hand, an unscrupulous person may not have broken the law. S/he is just a human being who has no conscience. No moral decency. I was discussing your question with my brother, and he came up with this example:

Mr. and Mrs. X want to buy a house. Miss Y sells houses. She knows that they are not rich and can afford to maintain only a small house. But Miss Y, who is a good talker, persuades them to buy a big house (the bigger the house that she sells, the more money she makes from the deal). Mr. and Mrs. X buy the house. Then they discover that they simply do
not have the money to maintain such a large house. They are financially destroyed. Well, Miss Y did not break any law. But she was certainly unscrupulous. That is, in order to make more money for herself, she did not think twice before she
encouraged Mr. and Mrs. X to make such a disastrous decision.

Fivejedjon · Answer

James MIMHO (and some dictionaries may support me), there may be a difference sometimes.

I agree. They are rarely synonymous.

Newguest · Answer

fivejedjon James MIMHO (and some dictionaries may support me), there may be a difference sometimes.I agree. They are rarely synonymous.

So does it mean, as James pointed, that my sentence: During war people are often crooked (because they do everything they can to survive, to save their lives) is not correct?

Anonymous · Answer

During wartime (and peacetime!) many (many!) people are both crooked and / or unscrupulous.

For example, let's say that Mr. X knows where there is a lot of food. In order "to survive and to save his life," he does

not tell the other hungry people, so they starve to death. He was certainly unscrupulous, but we cannot say that he was

"crooked." But let's say that country X sends aid to the people in country Y, which is having a war. But let's say that a

government official charges the people for that free food. Well, he is absolutely crooked -- and unscrupulous. (Many

people do not have a little voice that says, "Don't do that.")

Crooked/unscrupulous

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