peccant
Americanadjective
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sinning; guilty of a moral offense.
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violating a rule, principle, or established practice; faulty; wrong.
adjective
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guilty of an offence; corrupt
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violating or disregarding a rule; faulty
-
producing disease; morbid
Other Word Forms
- peccancy noun
- peccantly adverb
- peccantness noun
Etymology
Origin of peccant
1595–1605; < Latin peccant- (stem of peccāns ), present participle of peccāre to err, offend; see -ant
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.
The impeccable Jeeves and the peccant Bertie Wooster, P.G.'s most famous characters, do not figure in these stories.
From Time Magazine Archive
Along came the garbage-wagon; the garbageman hoisted case, Mary Kascmarek & all, into the peccant swill.
From Time Magazine Archive
Hon. Alfred Duff Cooper, impeccable British Ambassador to France, gave a peccant Riviera innkeeper a nice demonstration of the retort diplomatic.
From Time Magazine Archive
Chiefest and best known among his peccant intimates of those stormy days was the lady known as "Claire", a Highland lass, actually named Kate Drummond, "slim and dark, very trim and neat, with jet-black hair."
From Time Magazine Archive
Here, however, comes me in a besom which sweeps all the old peccant institutions away at one whisk.
From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 453 Volume 18, New Series, September 4, 1852 by Chambers, Robert
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.
