as in to play (around)
formal + disapproving
to have sexual intercourse
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Recent Examples of fornicate
Age-old paintings of satyrs bedding nymphs and mythological figures fornicating have been newly unearthed at a small house at Pompeii.
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Alex Greenberger For Artnews, Robb Report, 30 Oct. 2024
Beset by pressures on all sides — complicated when Otto reported to him that Rhaenyra and Daemon were seen fornicating, for which Viserys fired Otto — Viserys banished Daemon a second time and ordered Rhaenyra to marry Laenor Velaryon, heir to the Driftwood Throne.
—Sean T. Collins, Vulture, 13 June 2024
From bodily function issues and kid shenanigans to videos of terrible tattoos and people looking to fornicate with anything that has a pulse, fans serve as their own laugh track.
—Ali Lerman, Los Angeles Times, 30 Sep. 2024
Welcome back, George Santos — or, as many began calling Donald Trump’s number two in reference to the false viral claim that Vance has fornicated with furniture, hello, Sofa Loren.
—Samantha Allen, Them, 12 Aug. 2024
But the series works best as an elaborate prank to make critics look silly for complaining about the lack of nuance in a cartoon about fornicating food.
—Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 July 2024
Costner, age 69, who willed this project into being, makes sure to include a scene in which the former supermodel Lee mounts him, tells him to just lie there, and fornicates him into a good night’s sleep.
—EW.com, 26 June 2024
The medium is the message At its core, this is a story about the impact of surveillance capitalism – the corporate and government practice of gathering data about consumers to better understand and persuade them to buy, vote, fornicate, whatever.
—Giovanni René Rodriguez, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2024
Add to that the novelty of observing this (imaginary) nomadic species forage, feed, fart and fornicate in their natural habitat for a year without uttering a single word.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 20 Jan. 2024
Alex Greenberger For Artnews, Robb Report, 30 Oct. 2024
Beset by pressures on all sides — complicated when Otto reported to him that Rhaenyra and Daemon were seen fornicating, for which Viserys fired Otto — Viserys banished Daemon a second time and ordered Rhaenyra to marry Laenor Velaryon, heir to the Driftwood Throne.
—Sean T. Collins, Vulture, 13 June 2024
From bodily function issues and kid shenanigans to videos of terrible tattoos and people looking to fornicate with anything that has a pulse, fans serve as their own laugh track.
—Ali Lerman, Los Angeles Times, 30 Sep. 2024
Welcome back, George Santos — or, as many began calling Donald Trump’s number two in reference to the false viral claim that Vance has fornicated with furniture, hello, Sofa Loren.
—Samantha Allen, Them, 12 Aug. 2024
But the series works best as an elaborate prank to make critics look silly for complaining about the lack of nuance in a cartoon about fornicating food.
—Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 July 2024
Costner, age 69, who willed this project into being, makes sure to include a scene in which the former supermodel Lee mounts him, tells him to just lie there, and fornicates him into a good night’s sleep.
—EW.com, 26 June 2024
The medium is the message At its core, this is a story about the impact of surveillance capitalism – the corporate and government practice of gathering data about consumers to better understand and persuade them to buy, vote, fornicate, whatever.
—Giovanni René Rodriguez, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2024
Add to that the novelty of observing this (imaginary) nomadic species forage, feed, fart and fornicate in their natural habitat for a year without uttering a single word.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 20 Jan. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fornicate
Verb
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Beyoncé Honors Tina Turner at Paris 'Renaissance' Show At the time, few knew the horrors of her life offstage and in studios with her abusive and womanizing husband.David Browne, Rolling Stone, 14 June 2023
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That his father was a difficult, violent, womanizing alcoholic, holding 34 jobs in 44 years.Karen Heller, Washington Post, 3 May 2023
Verb
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Its first appearance in American print resulted from an 1846 Missouri court case in which a man stood accused of copulating with a horse.Dan Piepenbring, Harper's Magazine, 23 Sep. 2024
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Advertisement All of the male apes at the sanctuary receive vasectomies, but that does not preclude them from copulating.Amy Kaufman, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2024
Verb
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Players were in a dorm room fooling around with a gun.Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 20 Nov. 2024
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Why fool around with a convention that everyone understood and practiced?Judith Martin, The Mercury News, 7 Oct. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near fornicate
Cite this Entry
“Fornicate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fornicate. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
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