more sinned against than sinning

1. An expression used of those who, though they may be guilty of wrongdoing, think themselves the victim of a more serious wrong. From William Shakespeare's King Lear.

Idioms and Phrases

Less guilty than those who have injured one, as in It's true she took the money but they did owe her quite a bit—in a way she's more sinned against than sinning. This expression comes from Shakespeare's King Lear (3:2), where the King, on the heath during a storm, so describes his plight.

Example Sentences

The character is usually a bit of a madman, and this Nemo — pigheaded, bossy — is not wholly an exception, though he is also a young, smoldering, swashbuckling hero and a man more sinned against than sinning.

From Los Angeles Times

More sinned against than sinning, this Billy is largely a victim of circumstances, backed into a corner by life until his only option is to come out shooting.

From New York Times

Even if your daughters are, in some sense, more sinned against than sinning, you could reasonably worry that putting resources in their hands will allow them to support destructive causes.

From New York Times

He insists he is a man more sinned against than sinning and is working with lawyers to clear his name.

From BBC

While the British tabloids like to cast Meghan in the villainous role of the Duchess of Windsor — the American divorcée who lured away their king in 1936 and lived with him in bitter exile, causing an irreparable family rift — Harry and Meghan seem determined to position her instead as a latter-day Diana, a woman mistreated by her in-laws, more sinned against than sinning.

From New York Times