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transgressive

transgressive

4 8.5
Going beyond accepted social or moral rules
  • adjective
  • /trænˈɡrɛsɪv/
translation icon : transgresor
  • The artist's latest exhibition features several transgressive pieces that challenge societal norms.
  • transgressive behavior
  • transgressive discourse
  • transgressive act

Taboos being transgressive, breaking all that crap.

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Examples

  • Despite his family's view of this union as transgressive, the couple marries.

    Academic text (1994)
  • There are the kids who are going to do the subversive transgressive things and there are kids who are not going to do them.

  • Her image in general and that image in particular is transgressive.

  • Her frustration stems from her desire to be taken as a transgressive woman, not as a man.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • Young men recall funny stories of such transgressive behavior and tell them in vivid detail.

    Academic text (1999)
  • On one hand, there were the metropolitan Indians, with their painted faces and their ironic, transgressive behavior.

    Academic text (1995)
  • You Fight Club I think was the first book of yours that was labeled as transgressive fiction, meaning violating social norms.

  • Yet the law recognizes only the transgressive facet of Esmeralda's polyandry.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Dorotea's disguise, while transgressive, is encoded and sanctioned by theatrical convention.

    Academic text (2004)
  • Invoking the song title involves a reflexivity that humorously points to the transgressive aspects of seemingly mundane activities.

    Academic text (2009)

Synonyms

over the line
vstransgressive
  • Informal
28 8.2

Acting in a way that is too rude or hurtful to others

is a more neutral notion of exceeding moral or social limits
deviant
vstransgressive
26 8.1

Very different from what most people accept in behavior or morals

describes exceeding accepted limits specifically as rule breaking rather than oddity
aberrant
vstransgressive
14 8.2

Different from what is normal, often in a way people see as wrong

applies specifically to breaking social or moral rules rather than general oddness
beyond the pale
vstransgressive
  • Informal
12 9.1

Morally and socially wrong to most people

covers crossing limits more generally, not only acts widely condemned
errant
vstransgressive
3 7.8

Not following rules or expected standards

focuses on deliberate breaking of moral or social rules rather than accidental straying
transgressional
vstransgressive
8.6

Going beyond accepted limits and breaking rules or laws

is the general idea of going beyond moral or social limits

How Transgressive

outrageous
192 4.2
transgressive
4 8.5
shocking
278 3.4
provocative
112 6.7
conventional
175 2.8

Surface Forms

transgressive positive
transgressiver comparative
transgressivest superlative

Morphology

transgressive = transgress (transparent) = transgress + ive

Formed by adding the adjective-forming suffix '-ive' to the verb 'transgress'; the meaning 'going beyond/breaking limits' is directly derivable.

Etymology

Transgressive comes from the parts trans- 'across' and -gress 'to step', so it paints a picture of 'stepping across' a limit. That's why a transgressive act is one that goes beyond accepted social or moral rules.