Literary notes about peccant (AI summary)
The term “peccant” is deployed with a broad range of meanings in literary contexts, functioning as an adjective to denote moral fault, physical defect, or even a general state of corruption. Authors use it to describe not only the sinful behavior of characters, as seen when a royal is confined for her misdeeds [1] or when a wife seeks pardon for erring acts [2], but also to allude metaphorically to imperfections in objects or institutions—for instance, a malfunctioning tooth that betrays its owner [3] or a borough marked by its inherent flaws [4]. In more scholarly or rhetorical works, “peccant” can be applied to passages of writing or notions of systemic error, suggesting that even the loftiest virtues may have their tainted counterparts [5, 6].
- He shut up the peccant princess in a cloister, and imprisoned her gallant in the castle of Luna, where he caused him to be deprived of sight.
— from Mediaeval Tales - She was a peccant wife, revisiting home in disguise, and seeking her husband's pardon.
— from A Woman Martyr by Alice M. (Alice Mangold) Diehl - The patient just sat down, opened his mouth, pointed to the peccant tooth, and it was out in most cases before he could wink.
— from Vacation Rambles by Thomas Hughes - It would be easy to crush up a peccant borough or two,—a borough that had been discovered in its sin.
— from Phineas FinnThe Irish Member by Anthony Trollope - But every virtue has its peccant correspondent.
— from Guy Deverell, v. 2 of 2 by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu - 54 Pauperes non peccant, quum extrema necessitate coacti rem alienam capiunt.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton
