Peccancy
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A sin or moral transgression. countable
"[T]his distorting of equivocall words, which passeth commonly for a triviall peccancy, if it be well examined, will be found a very dangerous admission; for me thinks this may be termed a verbal adultery, as it vitiateth and corrupts the property of another, which would have remained innocent without that sollicitation, and therefore seemeth much a souler fault, than a single incontinency of our own words."
- 2 Sinfulness. countable, uncountable
- 3 A state of being flawed; faultiness. countable, rare, uncountable
- 4 Unhealthiness. countable, obsolete, uncountable
Example
More examples"[T]his distorting of equivocall words, which passeth commonly for a triviall peccancy, if it be well examined, will be found a very dangerous admission; for me thinks this may be termed a verbal adultery, as it vitiateth and corrupts the property of another, which would have remained innocent without that sollicitation, and therefore seemeth much a souler fault, than a single incontinency of our own words."
Etymology
From post-classical Latin peccantia, from Latin peccāns, present participle of peccō (“to sin”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.