also: せんしょう
noun, na-adjective
audacity; forwardness; effrontery; impertinence
Rare literary term for presumptuous or overstepping behavior; not used in everyday conversation.
彼の僭上な態度には皆が眉をひそめた。
Everyone frowned at his audacious attitude.
その発言は僭上も甚だしい
That remark is the height of impertinence.
Obsolete reading variant; marked as out-dated kana usage.
The kanji 僭 means 'usurp' or 'overstep', and 上 means 'above' or 'superior'. The compound literally suggests overstepping one's rank or position. The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the word is now rare and literary.