transgressor
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of transgressor
First recorded in 1350–1400; from Anglo-French, from Latin, equivalent to transgress ( def. ) + -or 2 ( def. )
Explanation
You can use the noun transgressor for anyone who violates a rule or oversteps a boundary. You are being a transgressor, for example, when you bring your barking dog into the library. A car thief is one kind of transgressor, a person who is actually breaking the law. Another kind of transgressor is someone who betrays an agreement or an unstated rule of behavior, like not wearing full clown makeup to a non-circus-related job interview. The word transgressionem is at the root of transgressor, and it means "a transgression of the law" in Late Latin or "a going over" in classical Latin.
Vocabulary lists containing transgressor
The Odyssey
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The Suffix -or, Part 2
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Internment
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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.
Its practical incentives include getting the transgressor to admit the wrongdoing himself instead of putting the burden on a classmate to tell.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 20, 2025
When Medina, with his camera in hand, encountered one, the unsuspecting transgressor was fully masked — and brandishing a thundering chainsaw.
From New York Times • Jun. 3, 2024
Unified as one transgressor, probably one among many.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2024
Contrary to prevalent wisdom that ingroup members always judge other ingroup members more favorably than outgroup members, they found that people made harsher moral judgments against the ingroup transgressor.
From Science Daily • Oct. 17, 2023
“The curse inscribed on a statue of a High Priest of Amun says any transgressor will ‘die from hunger and thirst.’”
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
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.
