transgressive

American  

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

adjective

1. violating or challenging socially accepted standards of behavior, belief, morality, or taste: Transgressive fiction focuses on characters who feel confined by the norms and expectations of society and who break free in unusual ways.

   We welcome those who are engaged in consensual, albeit transgressive sexualities.

   Transgressive fiction focuses on characters who feel confined by the norms and expectations of society and who break free in unusual ways.

2. violating a law, rule, command, or duty, or causing harm by doing so.

   We need to develop principled arguments that demonstrate the essentially transgressive nature of activities that damage the natural environment.

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transgressive British  

/ ˌtrænzˈɡrɛsɪv /

adjective

1. going beyond acceptable boundaries of taste, convention, or the law

   transgressive art

   transgressive pursuits

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Other Word Forms

• transgressively adverb

Etymology

Origin of transgressive

First recorded in 1640–50; transgress ( def. ) + -ive ( def. )

Example Sentences

“The memorialization takes away the kind of difficult questions of how this movement would deal with women who are taking on more transgressive gender roles. Once someone’s a hero, you can leave it at that.”

From Salon

"It was a bold, transgressive method of storytelling, of a moment in time that was political, that was violent and that was impactful," Washington Post video game reporter Gene Park told NBC4.

From Barron's

Jay Parini, in his review, observed that the author of “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was the man who “embodied, or perhaps invented, the American voice, with its granular lyricism and rough-edged, transgressive humor.”

From The Wall Street Journal

But these things do not enforce themselves, and what was once shocking and transgressive can become routine.

From Salon

In a 2022 episode of the podcast “Your Weirdest Fears,” Northwestern University professor David Tolchinsky peeled the transgressive nature of eyeball horror down to a basic dread of annihilation.

From Salon