transgress
Americanverb (used without object)
-
transgresses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
transgressed,
past participle, past
-
transgressing
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
transgresses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
transgressed,
past participle, past
-
transgressing
present participle
-
to pass over or go beyond (a limit, boundary, etc.).
to transgress bounds of prudence.
-
to go beyond the limits imposed by (a law, command, etc.); violate; infringe.
to transgress the will of God.
- Synonyms:
- disobey, contravene
- Antonyms:
- obey
verb
-
to break (a law, rule, etc)
-
to go beyond or overstep (a limit)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
transgressornoun
-
nontransgressiveadjective
-
transgressiveadjective
-
untransgressedadjective
-
nontransgressivelyadverb
-
transgressivelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
transgresssimple
-
transgressessimple
-
have transgressedperfect
-
has transgressedperfect
-
am transgressingprogressive
-
are transgressingprogressive
-
is transgressingprogressive
-
have been transgressingperfect progressive
-
has been transgressingperfect progressive
Past
-
transgressedsimple
-
had transgressedperfect
-
was transgressingprogressive
-
were transgressingprogressive
-
had been transgressingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of transgress
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin trānsgressus (past participle of trānsgredī “to step across”), equivalent to trāns- trans- + -gred- (combining form of gradī “to step”; see grade) + -tus past participle suffix, with dt becoming ss
Explanation
When you go beyond the boundaries, either physically or morally, you transgress. A river will transgress its banks as it floods, and students who cheat transgress school rules. Transgress sounds like and means nearly the same thing as trespass. When you transgress a rule, you're breaking it. Religions often talk about transgressing: for Christians, breaking a commandment is transgressing against God by violating his wishes. Any transgression is pushing through a boundary: like a neighbor transgressing by letting their dog into your yard: that's a physical and a legal type of transgressing. The dog got into your territory, and the owners broke a rule.
Vocabulary lists containing transgress
Antigone
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Twelfth Night
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Vocabulary from the Magna Carta on its 800th Anniversary
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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.
See Examples For:
It matters less to me that we transgress, that we fall back or fall prey to our lesser angels.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2025
Rather, institutional principle and precedent predominate in the criminal courts over those who would transgress them.
From Slate ● Oct. 21, 2022
“It could be another previous life, or some harm done to you, or a lack of self-knowledge that makes us transgress on our worldview,” he said.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 27, 2022
Before the weekend, race director Michael Masi has highlighted in his event notes clauses in F1's regulations that give governing body the FIA the power to take points off drivers if they transgress.
From BBC ● Dec. 9, 2021
Heraclitus says, “Not even the sun will transgress his orbit but the Erinyes, the ministers of justice, overtake him.”
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
It just said there might be an egregious example “when a state court transgresses the bounds of ordinary judicial review.”
From Salon ● May 11, 2024
But the idea that because an opponent transgresses a norm the standard no longer applies to anyone is a perversion of principle.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 7, 2022
“How do you know who you are when your primal love bond is formed with someone who then transgresses and violates it?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2021
Even if a travel-hacking scheme does not outright violate the terms of service, a company can simply decide the technique transgresses the spirit of its program.
From New York Times ● Jan. 5, 2021
I am afraid of the bridled who conquer, for they are apt to become the oppressors, and every oppressor transgresses against the human soul....
From Mother Earth, Vol. 1 No. 2, April 1906 Monthly Magazine Devoted to Social Science and Literature by Emma Goldman
Both productions also transgressed personal boundaries that pushed Panettiere to lows no one should endure, but so many stars growing up in the spotlight unfortunately do.
From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2026
Duckett said it's "not a secret" that professionalism is something he's "struggled with throughout my career" but has always been willing to "hold his hands up" when he's transgressed.
From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2026
Battle lines are drawn and immediately transgressed in a play that takes farce out of the bedroom and into administrative corridors and cubicles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2025
“But if you transgressed . . . by trying to present yourself as somewhat above your station intellectually, then that is the end.”
From Seattle Times ● May 25, 2024
She doubted whether she had not transgressed the duty of woman by woman, in betraying her suspicions of Jane Fairfax’s feelings to Frank Churchill.
From "Emma" by Jane Austen
It does its best to misbehave, transgressing between the real and the imaginary, between emotions dangerously raw and overcooked, breaking boundaries between what we call classical music and what we don’t.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2024
On the other hand, with “Alice Sadie Celine,” we are not talking about transgressing the long-gone mores of the 1950s and ’60s.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 25, 2023
The lawsuit also claims that Chop’t did not dispute the fine, which was for transgressing a rule that food service establishments must “operate their premises in such a way as to avoid imminent health hazards.”
From Washington Times ● Nov. 28, 2023
The summer of 2023, which was the hottest in recorded history, served as a potent reminder of the consequences of transgressing planetary limits.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2023
She amused herself by trying to catch some of the Grand Duke’s courtiers transgressing in this respect.
From Tales from Blackwood Volume 4 by Various
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.
