I. sin 1 S2 /sɪn/ BrE AmE noun
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: synn ]
1 . [uncountable and countable] an action that is against religious rules and is considered to be an offence against God
sin of
the sin of pride
She needed to confess her sins and ask for forgiveness.
He knew that he had committed a terrible sin.
the seven deadly sins (=seven bad feelings or desires, in the Christian religion)
2 . a sin informal something that you think is very wrong
it is a sin (to do something)
There’s so much lovely food here, it would be a sin to waste it.
3 . live in sin old-fashioned if two people live in sin, they live together in a sexual relationship without being married
4 . as miserable/ugly/guilty as sin especially British English spoken very unhappy, ugly, or guilty:
I saw Margaret this morning looking as miserable as sin.
5 . for my sins especially British English spoken an expression used to suggest jokingly that you have to do something as a punishment:
I work at head office now, for my sins.
⇨ sinful
⇨ cover/hide a multitude of sins at ↑ multitude (4), ⇨ ↑ cardinal sin , ↑ mortal sin , ↑ original sin
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ commit a sin
He has committed a grave sin.
▪ confess your sins
He knelt and confessed his sins to God.
▪ forgive sins
God has forgiven all my sins.
▪ repent (of) your sins (=be sorry you committed them)
I sincerely repent of my sins.
■ phrases
▪ the seven deadly sins (=seven bad feelings or desires, in the Christian religion, for example greed or too much pride)
■ adjectives
▪ a great sin
Possibly the greatest sin you can be guilty of is not speaking out against cruelty or injustice when you see it.
▪ a besetting sin literary (=one that you keep committing)
Drunkenness was his besetting sin.
II. sin 2 BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle sinned , present participle sinning ) [intransitive]
1 . to do something that is against religious rules and is considered to be an offence against God
sin against
You have sinned against God.
2 . be more sinned against than sinning old-fashioned used to say that someone should not be blamed for what they have done wrong, because they have been badly treated by other people
III. sin 3 BrE AmE technical
the written abbreviation of sine