original sin

Noun

original sin (countable and uncountable, plural original sins)

1. Adam's disobedience to God, beginning with his eating of the forbidden fruit, often depicted as an apple.
2. The state of sinfulness, present in each human from birth, which is a result of Adam's disobedience.
   • I vvas baptized in thy Cordiall vvater, againſt Original ſinne, and I haue drunke of thy Cordiall Blood, for my recouerie, from actuall, and habituall ſinne, in the other Sacrament.1624, John Donne, “11. Prayer.”, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: […] A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, →OCLC, pages 280–281
   • You have to give director Colm McCarthy, a Scottish TV veteran making his feature film debut, and writer Mike Carey, adapting his own novel, credit for attempting the seemingly impossible task of doing something new with the zombie subgenre. And by blending it with the common YA trope of a young...2017 February 23, Katie Rife, “The Girl With All The Gifts tries to put a fresh spin on overripe zombie clichés”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 18 Aug 2017
3. (figuratively) The misdeed partially or entirely responsible for all of the similar ones after it.
   • The dim-wits hardly realize that they come pretty close to accusing God of advocating ritual murder, when they use the Biblical story to prove the “original sin” of the Jews.1970, Morris Kominsky, chapter II, in The Hoaxers: Plain Liars, Fancy Liars, and Damned Liars, volume I, Boston: Branden Press, Inc., 8283-1288-5, page 191