sin

Universal Words noun, verb, abbreviation noun 1 [C] an offence against God or against a religious or moral law: to commit a sin * Confess your sins to God and he will forgive you. * The Bible says that stealing is a sin. seealsoMORTALSIN, ORIGINALSIN 2 [U] the act of breaking a religious or moral law: a life of sin 3 [C,usually sing.] (informal) an action that people strongly disapprove of: It's a sin to waste taxpayers' money like that. seealsoSINFUL, SINNER IDIOMS be / do sth for your sins (spoken humorous, especially BrE) used to say that sth that sb does is like a punishment: She works with us in Accounts, for her sins! (as) miserable / ugly as sin (spoken) used to emphasize that sb is very unhappy or ugly moreatMULTITUDE, LIVE verb (-nn-) [V] to break a religious or moral law: Forgive me, Lord, for I have sinned. * He was more sinned against than sinning (= although he did wrong, other people treated him even worse). abbreviation (mathematics) SINE