Meaning & use
transgress
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Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
To break a law, rule, command, or accepted moral boundary.
Grammar: Takes an object for the rule broken: transgress a boundary. Without an object it means act wrongly: people who transgress.
Patterns
- transgress a boundary
- transgress the law
- transgress against someone
The official was accused of transgressing procurement rules.
In the story, ambition leads him to transgress against his own family.
verbintransitivedisapproving
To go beyond what is considered acceptable or proper in behavior.
Grammar: Often followed by against; implies a serious violation rather than a small social mistake.
Patterns
- transgress against morality
- transgress socially
- transgress beyond limits
A public official should not transgress against basic fairness.
Some viewers felt the joke transgressed beyond good taste.
Word forms
| third person singular | transgresses |
|---|---|
| past tense | transgressed |
| past participle | transgressed |
| -ing form | transgressing |
Common combinations
- transgress boundaries
- Good comedians know how far they can transgress boundaries without losing the audience.
- transgress the rules
- The committee found that he had transgressed the rules on disclosure.
- transgress against convention
- The novel deliberately transgresses against convention.
Synonyms and how they differ
- violate
- Very close for laws and rules; transgress is more formal and often moral or religious.
- infringe
- Often used with rights, patents, or rules; transgress is broader and more solemn.
- sin
- Religious and moral; transgress can describe breaking either moral codes or formal rules.
Opposites
Word family
- transgression noun
- An act of breaking a rule or moral boundary.
- transgressive adjective
- Breaking accepted limits, especially in art or behavior.
- transgressor noun
- A person who breaks a rule or moral boundary.
Commonly confused: transgress or transgress? transgress or digress?
transgress vs transgress
Sometimes learners add -ed as transgressed; it has one s in the middle and double s in the ending: transgressed.
transgress vs digress
Digress means to leave the main subject; transgress means to break a boundary.
Practice
Choose the best verb for breaking a moral rule.
Choose one answer.
Transgress means to violate a law or moral limit. Digress means wander off topic, regress means move backward, and congress is a legislative body.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “transgress”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.