Sinning

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The action of performing acts considered immoral or unethical is frequently linked to various faiths
2. Engaging in activities that breach ethical standards or divine regulations denotes a form of wrongdoing
3. The act of committing immoral or unethical deeds often relates to particular religious beliefs

Etymology: Before "sin" meant a moral failing against God, its root sense was close to "truth." The reconstructed ancestor, *h₁sónts, meant "being, true," and it carried the force of a verdict: an accused person was declared "truly guilty." Old English "sōþ" ("true") is a relative of the same stem, so the word for wrongdoing and the word for truth share a deep ancestor. The Gothic "sunja" meant "truth," and the Latin "sons" ("guilty") shows the legal sense of that same root. The word passed through Germanic languages as a term for an offence against divine or moral law, and it survives in German "Sünde," Swedish and Danish "synd," and Yiddish "zind." The English "sin" is a native word, not a loan from Latin, and its legal flavour of guilt persists in the idea that a sinner is found guilty before a higher authority. "Sinning" is the ongoing form of "sin," so it describes the act as it happens rather than the offence as a finished thing. Its meaning has stayed tied to the religious and moral sense of the root.

Synonyms: transgressing, offending, wrongdoing, misdeed, immorality

Antonyms: repenting, atoning, redeeming, purifying, abstaining