Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Sin?

\Sin\, adv., prep., & conj. Old form of {Since}. [Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot.] Sin that his lord was twenty year of age. --Chaucer.
\Sin\, n. [OE. sinne, AS. synn, syn; akin to D. zonde, OS. sundia, OHG. sunta, G. s["u]nde, Icel., Dan. & Sw. synd, L. sons, sontis, guilty, perhaps originally from the p. pr. of the verb signifying, to be, and meaning, the one who it is. Cf. {Authentic}, {Sooth}.] 1. Transgression of the law of God; disobedience of the divine command; any violation of God's will, either in purpose or conduct; moral deficiency in the character; iniquity; as, sins of omission and sins of commission. Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. --John viii. 34. Sin is the transgression of the law. --1 John iii. 4. I think 't no sin. To cozen him that would unjustly win. --Shak. Enthralled By sin to foul, exorbitant desires. --Milton. 2. An offense, in general; a violation of propriety; a misdemeanor; as, a sin against good manners. I grant that poetry's a crying sin. --Pope. 3. A sin offering; a sacrifice for sin. He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin. --2 Cor. v. 21. 4. An embodiment of sin; a very wicked person. [R.] Thy ambition, Thou scarlet sin, robbed this bewailing land Of noble Buckingham. --Shak. Note: Sin is used in the formation of some compound words of obvious signification; as, sin-born; sin-bred, sin-oppressed, sin-polluted, and the like. {Actual sin}, {Canonical sins}, {Original sin}, {Venial sin}. See under {Actual}, {Canonical}, etc. {Deadly}, or {Mortal}, {sins} (R. C. Ch.), willful and deliberate transgressions, which take away divine grace; -- in distinction from vental sins. The seven deadly sins are pride, covetousness, lust, wrath, gluttony, envy, and sloth. {Sin eater}, a man who (according to a former practice in England) for a small gratuity ate a piece of bread laid on the chest of a dead person, whereby he was supposed to have taken the sins of the dead person upon himself. {Sin offering}, a sacrifice for sin; something offered as an expiation for sin. Syn: Iniquity; wickedness; wrong. See {Crime}.
\Sin\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Sinned}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Sinning}.] [OE. sinnen, singen, sinegen, AS. syngian. See {Sin}, n.] 1. To depart voluntarily from the path of duty prescribed by God to man; to violate the divine law in any particular, by actual transgression or by the neglect or nonobservance of its injunctions; to violate any known rule of duty; -- often followed by against. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned. --Ps. li. 4. All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. --Rom. iii. 23. 2. To violate human rights, law, or propriety; to commit an offense; to trespass; to transgress. I am a man More sinned against than sinning. --Shak. Who but wishes to invert the laws Of order, sins against the eternal cause. --Pope.