actual sin
- noun
- Formal
:
pecado actual
- Thirdly, we have to bear a hereditary burden of sin—first, original sin, in which we are all conceived; then actual sins, into which concupiscence leads all men to a greater or lesser degree.
Examples
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He believed that true repentance requires acknowledging one's actual sins before God.
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The priest explained that actual sins include any deliberate wrongdoings against God's commandments.
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Furthermore, she never committed any "actual" sins, whether mortal or venial.
Blog text (8) -
This, however, does not free human beings from making satisfaction for actual sins committed against one another and against the order that God intended to reign in creation.
Academic text (2004) -
In Christian theology, actual sin is defined as a sin committed knowingly and voluntarily.
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is partially compositional: 'actual' (real/present) + 'sin' (wrongdoing) signals a personal, real wrongdoing as opposed to an inherited or abstract concept, so learners can grasp a basic contrast with 'original sin'. However, the technical theological nuance that it specifically means sins committed knowingly and voluntarily is specialized and not fully predictable from the constituents alone, so a B1 learner may not recover the full sense without prior exposure or explanation.
Etymology
Actual sin comes from the idea that actual means an action you do yourself. Unlike 'original sin', which people are born with, actual sin is a wrong action you did on purpose, so it means a sin you did knowing it was wrong.