transgression

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A violation of a law, principle, or duty. synonym: breach.
• noun The exceeding of due bounds or limits.
• noun A relative rise in sea level resulting in deposition of marine strata over terrestrial strata.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of transgressing; the violation of any law; disobedience; infringement; trespass; offense.
• noun Synonyms Sin, Trespass, etc. (see crime), infraction, breach.
• noun In geology, the process which produces overlap. Thus a shore-line, with one series of strata recently formed beneath the neighboring waters, may subside and allow the sea, bringing new sediments, to encroach farther and farther upon the land, away from the old series, and deposit new and overlapping beds by transgression.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act of transgressing, or of passing over or beyond any law, civil or moral; the violation of a law or known principle of rectitude; breach of command; fault; offense; crime; sin.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A violation of a law, command or duty
• noun An act that goes beyond generally accepted boundaries
• noun A relative rise in sea level resulting in deposition of marine strata over terrestrial strata

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the spreading of the sea over land as evidenced by the deposition of marine strata over terrestrial strata
• noun the action of going beyond or overstepping some boundary or limit
• noun the act of transgressing; the violation of a law or a duty or moral principle