transgress
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
-
to pass over or go beyond (a limit, boundary, etc.).
to transgress bounds of prudence.
-
to go beyond the limits imposed by (a law, command, etc.); violate; infringe.
to transgress the will of God.
- Synonyms:
- disobey, contravene
- Antonyms:
- obey
verb
-
to break (a law, rule, etc)
-
to go beyond or overstep (a limit)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
transgressornoun
-
nontransgressiveadjective
-
transgressiveadjective
-
untransgressedadjective
-
nontransgressivelyadverb
-
transgressivelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
transgresssimple
-
transgressessimple
-
have transgressedperfect
-
has transgressedperfect
-
am transgressingprogressive
-
are transgressingprogressive
-
is transgressingprogressive
-
have been transgressingperfect progressive
-
has been transgressingperfect progressive
Past
-
transgressedsimple
-
had transgressedperfect
-
was transgressingprogressive
-
were transgressingprogressive
-
had been transgressingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of transgress
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin trānsgressus (past participle of trānsgredī “to step across”), equivalent to trāns- trans- + -gred- (combining form of gradī “to step”; see grade) + -tus past participle suffix, with dt becoming ss
Explanation
When you go beyond the boundaries, either physically or morally, you transgress. A river will transgress its banks as it floods, and students who cheat transgress school rules. Transgress sounds like and means nearly the same thing as trespass. When you transgress a rule, you're breaking it. Religions often talk about transgressing: for Christians, breaking a commandment is transgressing against God by violating his wishes. Any transgression is pushing through a boundary: like a neighbor transgressing by letting their dog into your yard: that's a physical and a legal type of transgressing. The dog got into your territory, and the owners broke a rule.
Vocabulary lists containing transgress
Antigone
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Twelfth Night
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Vocabulary from the Magna Carta on its 800th Anniversary
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Taking these points together, it becomes clear that the ordinary bounds of judicial review are capacious, and it would be extraordinarily rare for a state court to transgress them.
From Slate ● Sep. 19, 2024
That was hardly a fringe view in the progressive ethos of the Bay Area, where he was based, though he still managed to transgress the boundaries on a regular basis.
From New York Times ● Jun. 3, 2024
Humanity is on course to transgress multiple global “tipping points” that could lead to irreversible instability or the complete collapse of ecological and institutional systems, a United Nations report warned Wednesday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2023
"There's nothing that upsets police officers more than to see their fellow officers transgress, commit crime, and commit awful misconduct offences," he said.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2023
His views about the white man were devastating, but at no time did he transgress against my own personality and make me feel that I, as an individual, shared in the guilt.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
Consider what Christianity, at its core, actually does: It transgresses and disrupts.
From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2026
The Lib Dem leader said "we need to know... where any MP transgresses the rules".
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2024
“How do you know who you are when your primal love bond is formed with someone who then transgresses and violates it?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2021
Even if a travel-hacking scheme does not outright violate the terms of service, a company can simply decide the technique transgresses the spirit of its program.
From New York Times ● Jan. 5, 2021
Economics is not the whole of life: and when it transgresses its bounds and exceeds its functions it must be controlled and thrust back into its place by the combined activities of men.
From Progress and History by Marvin, Francis Sydney
Battle lines are drawn and immediately transgressed in a play that takes farce out of the bedroom and into administrative corridors and cubicles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2025
“Steps will also be taken against other learners who may have transgressed certain provisions within the code of conduct,” she added.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2024
Some of the breakfast sandwiches transgressed in ruinous ways: served with aggressively flavored aioli, served on a bagel out of a plastic bag, served with arugula, which, friends, only gets distressingly wilty-slimy in this format.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 14, 2023
As in Europe, those persecuted as witches in the colonies were commonly poor and marginalized, but women who transgressed Puritan behavioral norms or who attained wealth or property were also at risk.
From Scientific American ● May 31, 2023
She doubted whether she had not transgressed the duty of woman by woman, in betraying her suspicions of Jane Fairfax’s feelings to Frank Churchill.
From "Emma" by Jane Austen
“Already in that early school exercise, he was transgressing all the principles that we knew.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2024
On the other hand, with “Alice Sadie Celine,” we are not talking about transgressing the long-gone mores of the 1950s and ’60s.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 25, 2023
The lawsuit also claims that Chop’t did not dispute the fine, which was for transgressing a rule that food service establishments must “operate their premises in such a way as to avoid imminent health hazards.”
From Washington Times ● Nov. 28, 2023
The summer of 2023, which was the hottest in recorded history, served as a potent reminder of the consequences of transgressing planetary limits.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2023
No man could be more innocent of intention in transgressing caste rule than Coomara.
From The Outcaste by Penny, F. E.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
