transgression
an act of crossing a rule or boundary
Roots
- gress / grad: step, walk, go, or move
- trans-: across, through, or beyond
Other words with the gress / grad root
- digress: to stray from the main point
- digression: a departure from the main point
- progress: forward movement or improvement
- regress: to move backward or return to an earlier state
- transgress: to cross a rule or boundary
Trans gives across; gress gives step. A transgression is the act of stepping across a rule or boundary.
The apology admitted the transgression without dressing it up.
Transgression is more than a mistake. It has a line in it. A rule, boundary, promise, or moral limit was crossed.
The root image helps: someone steps across. That is why the word can feel serious even when the act is not physically dramatic.