SIN, n.

1. To depart voluntarily from the path of duty prescribed by God to man; to violate the divine law in any particular, by actual transgression or by the neglect or non-observance of its injunctions; to violate any known rule of duty. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. – Rom. iii. It is followed by against. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned. – Ps. li.
2. To offend against right, against men or society; to trespass. I am a man / More sinn'd against than sinning. – Shak. And who but wishes to invert the laws / Of order, sins against th' eternal cause. – Pope.

1. The voluntary departure of a moral agent from a known rule of rectitude or duty, prescribed by God; any voluntary transgression of the divine law, or violation of a divine command; a wicked act; iniquity. Sin is either a positive act in which a known divine law is violated, or it is the voluntary neglect to obey a positive divine command, or a rule of duty clearly implied in such command. Sin comprehends not actions only, but neglect of known duty, all evil thoughts, purposes, words and desires, whatever is contrary to God's commands or law. – 1 John iii. Matth. xv. James iv. Sinners neither enjoy the pleasures of sin, nor the peace of piety. – Rob. Hall. Among divines, sin is original or actual. Actual sin, above defined, is the act of a moral agent in violating a known rule of duty. Original sin, as generally understood, is native depravity of heart; that want of conformity of heart to the divine will, that corruption of nature or deterioration of the moral character of man, which is supposed to be the effect of Adam's apostasy; and which manifests itself in moral agents by positive acts of disobedience to the divine will, or by the voluntary neglect to comply with the express commands of God, which require that we should love God with all the heart and soul and strength and mind, and our neighbor as ourselves. This native depravity or alienation of affections from God and his law, is supposed to be what the apostle calls the carnal mind or mindedness, which is enmity against God, and is therefore denominated sin or sinfulness. Unpardonable sin, or blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, is supposed to be a malicious and obstinate rejection of Christ and the Gospel plan of salvation, or a contemptuous resistance made to the influences and convictions of the Holy Spirit. – Matth. xii.
2. A sin-offering; an offering made to atone for sin. He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin. – 2 Cor. v.
3. A man enormously wicked. [Not in use.] – Shak. Sin differs from crime, not in nature, but in application. That which is a crime against society, is sin against God.

1. Old form of Since.
   
   
   [Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot.]

   Sin that his lord was twenty year of age. Chaucer.

2. Transgression of the law of God] disobedience of the divine command; any violation of God's will, either in purpose or conduct; moral deficiency in the character; iniquity; as, sins of omission and sins of commission.
   
   

   Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. John viii. 34.

   Sin is the transgression of the law. 1 John iii. 4.

   I think 't no sin.
   To cozen him that would unjustly win. Shak.

   Enthralled
   By sin to foul, exorbitant desires. Milton.

3. To depart voluntarily from the path of duty prescribed by God to man] to violate the divine law in any particular, by actual transgression or by the neglect or nonobservance of its injunctions; to violate any known rule of duty; -- often followed by against.
   
   

   Against thee, thee only, have I sinned. Ps. li. 4.

   All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Rom. iii. 23.

4. An offense, in general; a violation of propriety; a misdemeanor; as, a sin against good manners.
   
   

   I grant that poetry's a crying sin. Pope.

5. To violate human rights, law, or propriety; to commit an offense; to trespass; to transgress.
   
   

   I am a man
   More sinned against than sinning. Shak.

   Who but wishes to invert the laws
   Of order, sins against the eternal cause. Pope.

6. A sin offering; a sacrifice for sin.
   
   

   He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin. 2 Cor. v. 21.

7. An embodiment of sin; a very wicked person.
   
   
   [R.]

   Thy ambition,
   Thou scarlet sin, robbed this bewailing land
   Of noble Buckingham. Shak.

   * Sin is used in the formation of some compound words of obvious signification; as, sin-born; sin-bred, sin-oppressed, sin-polluted, and the like.

   Actual sin, Canonical sins, Original sin, Venial sin. See under Actual, Canonical, etc. -- Deadly, or Mortal, sins (R. C. Ch.), willful and deliberate transgressions, which take away divine grace; -- in distinction from vental sins. The seven deadly sins are pride, covetousness, lust, wrath, gluttony, envy, and sloth. -- Sin eater, a man who (according to a former practice in England) for a small gratuity ate a piece of bread laid on the chest of a dead person, whereby he was supposed to have taken the sins of the dead person upon himself. -- Sin offering, a sacrifice for sin; something offered as an expiation for sin.

   Syn. -- Iniquity; wickedness; wrong. See Crime.