Library / English Dictionary

SIN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: sinned    , sinning   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An act that is regarded by theologians as a transgression of God's will

Synonyms:

sin; sinning

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("sin" is a kind of...):

evildoing; transgression (the act of transgressing; the violation of a law or a duty or moral principle)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sin"):

fall (a lapse into sin; a loss of innocence or of chastity)

actual sin (a sin committed of your own free will (as contrasted with original sin))

original sin (a sin said to be inherited by all descendants of Adam)

deadly sin; mortal sin (an unpardonable sin entailing a total loss of grace)

venial sin (a pardonable sin regarded as entailing only a partial loss of grace)

Derivation:

sin (commit a sin; violate a law of God or a moral law)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Estrangement from god

Synonyms:

sin; sinfulness; wickedness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("sin" is a kind of...):

unrighteousness (failure to adhere to moral principles)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sin"):

mark of Cain (the mark that God set upon Cain now refers to a person's sinful nature)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The 21st letter of the Hebrew alphabet

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("sin" is a kind of...):

alphabetic character; letter; letter of the alphabet (the conventional characters of the alphabet used to represent speech)

Holonyms ("sin" is a part of...):

Hebraic alphabet; Hebrew alphabet; Hebrew script (a Semitic alphabet used since the 5th century BC for writing the Hebrew language (and later for writing Yiddish and Ladino))

Sense 4

Meaning:

(Akkadian) god of the Moon; counterpart of Sumerian Nanna

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Instance hypernyms:

Semitic deity (a deity worshipped by the ancient Semites)

Domain region:

Mesopotamia (the land between the Tigris and Euphrates; site of several ancient civilizations; part of what is now known as Iraq)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Ratio of the length of the side opposite the given angle to the length of the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle

Synonyms:

sin; sine

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Hypernyms ("sin" is a kind of...):

circular function; trigonometric function (function of an angle expressed as a ratio of the length of the sides of right-angled triangle containing the angle)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Commit a sin; violate a law of God or a moral law

Synonyms:

sin; transgress; trespass

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "sin" is one way to...):

breach; break; go against; infract; offend; transgress; violate (act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sin"):

fall (yield to temptation or sin)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

sin (an act that is regarded by theologians as a transgression of God's will)

sinner (a person who sins (without repenting))

sinning (an act that is regarded by theologians as a transgression of God's will)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Commit a faux pas or a fault or make a serious mistake

Example:

I blundered during the job interview

Synonyms:

blunder; boob; drop the ball; goof; sin

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "sin" is one way to...):

breach; break; go against; infract; offend; transgress; violate (act in disregard of laws, rules, contracts, or promises)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Credits

 Context examples: 

It is equally certain, too, that whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than sufficient punishment.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He says it would have been a sin to, for I slept peacefully and was forgetting my trouble.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I could not trace her beyond her first seducer, and there was every reason to fear that she had removed from him only to sink deeper in a life of sin.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I confessed, that I might obtain absolution; but now that falsehood lies heavier at my heart than all my other sins.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

‘Alas, Holmes, I fear that it is one of sin and shame!’ cried my friend.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Catherine, at any rate, heard enough to feel that in suspecting General Tilney of either murdering or shutting up his wife, she had scarcely sinned against his character, or magnified his cruelty.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

There would be little satisfaction in killing him if he was not to know whose hand had struck the blow, or which of his sins it came to avenge.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I am not obliged to punish myself for her sins.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The context convinces me, however, that you have sinned rather through ignorance and tactlessness than through malice, so I am content to pass the matter by.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He offered her an extraneous thing with which he could part without a pang, while she offered him herself, along with disgrace and shame, and sin, and all her hopes of heaven.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)