transgressive

[trans-gres-iv, tranz-]

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.

transgressive

/ ˌtrænzˈɡrɛsɪv /

adjective

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

   transgressive art

   transgressive pursuits

Other Word Forms

• transgressively adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of transgressive¹

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

Example Sentences

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.”

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

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For the Gen Z fans fascinated by Nails’ gothic-erotic aesthetic, it felt more transgressive than ever.

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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.

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The years following “Girls” gave us one messy woman after another until the concept lost its transgressive thrill.

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