---
title: "What are the seven deadly sins?"
url: "https://seekabove.com/answers/what-are-the-seven-deadly-sins"
description: "The “seven deadly sins” are better called the seven capital sins — pride, greed (avarice), envy, wrath (anger), lust, gluttony, and sloth. They’re called “capital” (from the Latin for “head”) not bec…"
published: "2026-06-06"
updated: "2026-06-10"
category: "Christian Life"
scripture: ["Proverbs 6:16-19", "Galatians 5:19-21", "James 4:6", "1 John 2:16", "Galatians 5:22-23"]
catechism: "CCC 1865–1866"
---

# What are the seven deadly sins?

## Short answer

The "seven deadly sins" are better called the **seven capital sins** — pride, greed
(avarice), envy, wrath (anger), lust, gluttony, and sloth. They're called "capital"
(from the Latin for "head") not because they're the worst possible sins, but because they
are *sources* — root attitudes of the heart that give rise to many other sins. Naming them
helps us spot the deeper disorders driving our behaviour.

## Full explanation

This famous list isn't a ranking of the seven worst things you can do; it's a diagnosis of
the seven *roots* from which sins tend to grow. Pull up the root and many bad fruits go
with it. Here they are, each with the deeper disorder it names:

- **Pride** — putting myself at the centre, refusing to depend on God or admit I'm wrong;
  the deepest root, the one that says "my will, not God's." Scripture says "God opposes the
  proud, but gives grace to the humble."
- **Greed (avarice)** — the craving for more possessions and wealth, never satisfied,
  treating things as my security and worth.
- **Envy** — resentment at others' good, the inability to rejoice in someone else's
  blessing.
- **Wrath (anger)** — not the healthy passion for justice, but the nursed grudge, the
  desire for revenge, the rage that wants to wound.
- **Lust** — disordered sexual desire that reduces persons to objects for my pleasure.
- **Gluttony** — disordered desire for food, drink, or consumption generally; letting
  appetite rule, whether by excess or obsession.
- **Sloth (acedia)** — not mere laziness but a spiritual sluggishness, a listless
  unwillingness to love and to do the good, even a kind of sadness about the things of God.

Why bother learning the list? Because most of our particular failures trace back to one of
these. The harsh word, the broken relationship, the dishonest deal — scratch the surface
and you'll often find pride, or envy, or anger underneath. Knowing your *characteristic*
capital sin (we each tend to have one or two that trip us most) is one of the most useful
things in the spiritual life: it tells you where to aim your prayer, your vigilance, and
your examination of conscience.

And there's good news built into the structure. Every capital sin has an opposing
**virtue** that heals it, and the way forward is less about white-knuckling against the
vice than about cultivating its opposite: humility heals pride, generosity heals greed,
kindness and gratitude heal envy, patience and gentleness heal wrath, chastity heals lust,
temperance heals gluttony, and diligence (and love) heals sloth. You don't just fight the
darkness; you grow the light.

## Why this matters

It's easy to treat sin as a list of isolated rule-breaks. The capital sins reveal something
deeper: that our actions flow from the *condition of our hearts*. If you only ever pull off
the visible bad fruit, more grows back; but if you go after the root, real change becomes
possible. This is practical wisdom for genuine self-knowledge and growth — knowing which
disorder most drives you, and which virtue to cultivate against it.

## Common misunderstanding

One misunderstanding is that "deadly" means each of these is automatically a mortal sin
that damns you. Not so — "capital" means they are *sources* of other sins; any given
instance can be venial or grave depending on the circumstances. Another misunderstanding
treats the list as quaint or medieval; in fact pride, greed, envy, anger, lust, gluttony,
and sloth are as alive in the human heart (and as cleverly marketed) today as ever.

## Scripture connections

- **Proverbs 6:16-19** — a list of things "the Lord hates," including pride and a lying
  tongue, an Old Testament cousin to the capital sins.
- **Galatians 5:19-21** — Paul's catalogue of the "works of the flesh," overlapping the
  capital sins.
- **James 4:6** — "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble," pride as the root
  disorder.
- **1 John 2:16** — "the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride of life,"
  three deep roots of sin.
- **Galatians 5:22-23** — the "fruit of the Spirit," the virtues that displace the vices.

## Church teaching references

- CCC 1865, 1866
- The Catechism lists the seven capital sins — pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony,
  and sloth — as sins that engender other sins and vices.

## Reflection question

Of the seven, which one do you sense is *your* characteristic root — the one that most often
lies under your particular failures — and what is the opposite virtue you could deliberately
practise against it?