transgression

UK/trɑːnzˈɡrɛʃn/US/trɑːnzˈɡrɛʃn/

nounC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #10,696 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: transgressions

A transgression is an act that breaks a law or a moral rule. A minor transgression, past transgressions, forgive the transgression.

It is formal and slightly religious in tone, which is why it appears in liturgy and in apologies. The Latin means a stepping across, and the image of a line crossed is exactly what the word carries.

Definitions of transgression

1nountransgressionAn act that breaks a law or a moral rule.C1
“The priest listened quietly as she confessed her transgressions.”

transgression is an act.

Where it comes from

Latin transgressio comes from transgredi, to step across — trans plus gradi, to step.

Latin
trānsgressiō
Old French
transgression
Middle English
transgressioun
English, today
transgression

Built from

trānsgredior · Latin — to step across

From Middle English transgressioun, from Old French transgression, from Latin trānsgressiō, from Latin trānsgressus (perfect active participle of trānsgredior (“to step across”)) + -iō.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

transgression in the wild

The first part of the Flandrian, known as the Younger Atlantic, was a period of fairly rapid sea level rise, known as the Flandrian transgression.
Flandrian interglacial
Fjords were formed during the Flandrian transgression when U-shaped glaciated valleys were inundated.
Flandrian interglacial
A marine transgression is a geologic event where sea level rises relative to the land and the shoreline moves toward higher ground, resulting in flooding.
Marine transgression
The opposite of transgression is regression where the sea level falls relative to the land and exposes the former sea bottom.
Marine transgression
The opposite event, marine transgression, occurs when flooding from the sea covers previously-exposed land.
Marine regression

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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