different between transgress vs debauch

English

Etymology

From Middle English transgressen, from Old French transgresser and Latin transgressus, past participle of transgred?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t?ænz????s/

Verb

transgress (third-person singular simple present transgresses, present participle transgressing, simple past and past participle transgressed)

1. (transitive) To exceed or overstep some limit or boundary.

   • surpassing common faith, transgressing nature's law

2. (transitive) To act in violation of some law.
3. (intransitive, construed with against) To commit an offense; to sin.

   • Why give you peace to this untemperate beast / That hath so long transgressed you?

4. (intransitive, of the sea) To spread over land along a shoreline; to inundate.

Synonyms

• (to exceed or overstep): forpass, surpass, transcend; see also Thesaurus:transcend

Related terms

• transgression
• transgressive
• transgressor

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• debosh

Etymology

1590s, from Middle French desbaucher (“entice from work or duty”), from Old French desbauchier (“to lead astray”), from des- + bauch (“beam”), from Frankish *balko, from Proto-Germanic *balkô, from Proto-Indo-European *bhelg- (“beam, plank”); latter origin of balk.

Evolution of sense unclear; may be literally “to shave/trim wood to make a beam” or may be “to leave/lure someone from a workshop”, Frankish *balko perhaps also meaning “workshop”.

Possible corruption by way of Anglicised French term bord (“edge, kerb”): kerb crawling as a synonym for prostitution. Parallels in modern German: Bordsteinschwalbe (“prostitute”, literally “Kerb-stone-swallow or kerb-bird”). English words bawd, bawdiness may be similarly connected.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??b??t??/
• Rhymes: -??t?

Noun

debauch (plural debauches)

1. An individual act of debauchery.
2. An orgy.

Translations

Verb

debauch (third-person singular simple present debauches, present participle debauching, simple past and past participle debauched)

1. (transitive) To morally corrupt (someone); to seduce.
2. (transitive) To debase (something); to lower the value of (something).
3. (intransitive) To indulge in revelry.

Translations

Derived terms

Related terms

• balk

References