Monday, June 28, 2004

Word Of The Day

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."

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