transgress

American  

[trans-gres, tranz-] / trænsˈgrɛs, trænz- /

verb (used without object)

1. to violate a law, command, moral code, etc.; offend; sin.

   Synonyms:

   trespass, err

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verb (used with object)

1. to pass over or go beyond (a limit, boundary, etc.).

   to transgress bounds of prudence.

2. to go beyond the limits imposed by (a law, command, etc.); violate; infringe.

   to transgress the will of God.

   Synonyms:

   disobey, contravene

   Antonyms:

   obey

transgress British  

/ trænzˈɡrɛs /

verb

1. to break (a law, rule, etc)

2. to go beyond or overstep (a limit)

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Other Word Forms

• nontransgressive adjective
• nontransgressively adverb
• transgressive adjective
• transgressively adverb
• transgressor noun
• untransgressed adjective

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”; grade ) + -tus past participle suffix, with dt becoming ss

Example Sentences

Ms. Wood is a “teaching pastor” whose role in preaching from the pulpit transgresses Baptist polity.

From Washington Times

A Black person “does not need to transgress to experience the violence of lynchings, of slavery, of incarceration.”

From New York Times

The work was missing when I first visited the show and later reinstalled in another spot — a mysterious move that I can’t help think suggests the power flags still have to transgress.

From New York Times

In adopting a plan to channel hundreds of billions of economic recovery funds to its members, the union last year also gave itself more leverage against governments that transgress democratic standards.

From Washington Post

Cancel culture is the idea that activists, mostly on the left, are seeking to suppress disfavoured free expression by permanently shaming and ostracising individuals, often through social media, deemed to have transgressed.

From BBC