Word of the Day Archive
Sunday June 27, 2004
peccant \PEK-unt\ , adjective:
1. Sinning; guilty of transgression.
2. Violating a rule or a principle.
There must be redemption even for a formerly peccant father.
-- John Simon, review of Lone Star, National Review, July 29, 1996
The peccant fellow is Cliff, who cheats, or tries to cheat, on his wife.
-- John Simon, review of Crimes and Misdemeanors, National Review, December 8, 1989
No accuser, however, was prepared to come forward to initiate a prosecution, nor could the bishop find the necessary eyewitnesses to support a criminal case against the peccant clergymen.
-- Peter Linehan and Janet L. Nelson, Medieval World
Peccant comes from the present participle of Latin of peccare, "to sin."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for peccant
