The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sin \Sin\, n. [OE. sinne, AS. synn, syn; akin to D. zonde, OS. sundia, OHG. sunta, G. s["u]nde, Icel., Dan. & Sw. synd, L. sons, sontis, guilty, perhaps originally from the p. pr. of the verb signifying, to be, and meaning, the one who it is. Cf. Authentic, Sooth.]
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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. -
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. -
A sin offering; a sacrifice for sin.
He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.
--2 Cor. v. 21. -
An embodiment of sin; a very wicked person. [R.]
Thy ambition, Thou scarlet sin, robbed this bewailing land Of noble Buckingham.
--Shak.Note: 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 sins, 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.
Venial \Ve"ni*al\, a. [OF. venial, F. v['e]niel, L. venialis, from venia forgiveness, pardon, grace, favor, kindness; akin to venerari to venerate. See Venerate.]
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Capable of being forgiven; not heinous; excusable; pardonable; as, a venial fault or transgression.
So they do nothing, 't is a venial slip.
--Shak. -
Allowed; permitted. [Obs.] ``Permitting him the while venial discourse unblamed.''
--Milton.Venial sin (R. C. Theol.), a sin which weakens, but does not wholly destroy, sanctifying grace, as do mortal, or deadly, sins. [1913 Webster] -- Ve"ni*al*ly, adv. -- Ve"ni*al*ness, n.
--Bp. Hall.
Wiktionary
n. (context Roman Catholic theology English) A sin that is not a mortal sin; a sin that is not grave, or was not deliberate or was committed without a full understanding of the consequences.
WordNet
n. a pardonable sin regarded as entailing only a partial loss of grace [ant: mortal sin]
Wikipedia
According to Roman Catholicism, a venial sin (meaning "forgivable" sin) is a lesser sin that does not result in a complete separation from God and eternal damnation in Hell as an unrepented mortal sin would. A venial sin consists in acting as one should not, without the actual incompatibility with the state of grace that a mortal sin implies; they do not break one's friendship with God, but injure it.
Usage examples of "venial sin".
If you coldbloodedly planned to do away with somebody who had raped your wife, that might just be a venial sin.
If you cold-bloodedly planned to do away with somebody who had raped your wife, that might just be a venial sin.
They reason thus because they are unable to comprehend that even venial sin is of such a foul and hideous nature that even if the omnipotent Creator could end all the evil and misery in the world, the wars, the diseases, the robberies, the crimes, the deaths, the murders, on condition that he allowed a single venial sin to pass unpunished, a single venial sin, a lie, an angry look, a moment of wilful sloth, He, the great omnipotent God could not do so because sin, be it in thought or deed, is a transgression of His law and God would not be God if He did not punish the transgressor.
Oh well, I suppose hypocrisy in a bishop is almost necessary and would be considered by Father Heribert Jone a very venial sin.
Nothing strange, to be sure, beyond the venial sin of redundance, since Roberto was an only child.
But for me to wantonly copulate out of wedlock, that would be at least a venial sin.
Most of the time these curandems are only guilty of venial sin, but desouling a baby isn't even slighdy venial.
Still, Caldicott would probably say that it was a venial sin, not a mortal one, but—.