How to Use black sheep in a Sentence

black sheep

noun
  • She was the black sheep of the family.
  • The black sheep of the franchise, it was plagued by excess.
    Gieson Cacho Tribune News Service, Star Tribune, 7 Oct. 2020
  • Did the black sheep kill the patriarch to get his hands on the nutria farm?
    Brian Tallerico, Vulture, 3 Sep. 2021
  • Does this mean that Adams' black sheep label is about to be erased?
    Lincee Ray, EW.com, 5 May 2023
  • There's a black sheep in the game, along with a red sheep who is more defiant than the others.
    Trilby Beresford, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Aug. 2020
  • There are a few black sheep who’ve recently returned to the fold as well.
    David Fear, Rolling Stone, 5 Oct. 2021
  • On the brand side, Skrewball, it's made for misfits, screwballs, and black sheep.
    Dave Knox, Forbes, 31 Aug. 2021
  • This is a black sheep type of school, and sometimes people overlook us.
    Jim Derry, NOLA.com, 22 Dec. 2020
  • The black sheep of the FF family finally got some love at E3 tonight.
    Andrew Webster, The Verge, 11 June 2019
  • As if to demonstrate, one nuzzled a black sheep before rolling over on its back.
    Kate Brady, Washington Post, 13 Aug. 2023
  • Uniiqu3 comes through with a sing-along for all the black sheep on the dance floor, and Big Freedia finishes the show with a daring bit of finesse.
    Billboard Staff, Billboard, 28 Jan. 2022
  • Burnham was the artistic black sheep of a sporty family.
    Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 8 Dec. 2014
  • For the other non-pedigree entrepreneurs out there, here’s my crash course in how to get there, and how to not feel like a black sheep on your way up.
    Christina Stembel, Quartz at Work, 29 Aug. 2019
  • The question arises at this point, why are there so many black sheep in journalism?
    Nicholas Lemann, The New York Review of Books, 11 Feb. 2020
  • Her only way to escape is to make a deal with the black sheep and dark underlord of the Thirteen, Hades himself.
    Emily Bond, menshealth.com, 19 Apr. 2023
  • Qatar has long been the black sheep of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
    Ilan Goldenberg, Slate Magazine, 5 June 2017
  • Then there were her endless statement sweaters—who could forget that Gyles & George black sheep knit?
    Sophie Dweck, Town & Country, 24 Nov. 2022
  • But the black sheep sweater perhaps made a statement about how Diana felt in the royal family.
    Caitlin O'Kane, CBS News, 15 Sep. 2023
  • Jack is variously described and self-described as a ne’er-do-well, a reprobate, a black sheep and a scoundrel.
    Sam Sacks, WSJ, 25 Sep. 2020
  • Their black sheep is Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen), a hulking figure with a chainsaw who wears the skin of his victims.
    Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 24 Oct. 2022
  • To many people, Princess Margaret was the black sheep of her generation of royals.
    Elise Taylor, Vogue, 30 Apr. 2019
  • The royal black sheep has finally found an era that suits her: the swinging Sixties, where anything goes.
    Tribune News Service, cleveland, 4 Nov. 2019
  • Izzy Richardson, the youngest daughter and black sheep of the Richardson family played by Megan Stott, was a similar case.
    Emily Hilton, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Aug. 2020
  • The youngest and wittiest Lannister sibling, Tyrion, a dwarf, is the black sheep of the family.
    John Carucci, The Seattle Times, 13 Apr. 2019
  • There are plenty of pieces that prove this notion, take her revenge dress or her black sheep sweater, for example.
    Lauren Tappan, Town & Country, 17 Nov. 2022
  • At this point in Diana's royal life, anyone could guess who the black sheep was supposed to represent.
    Kathleen Walsh, Glamour, 27 June 2023
  • But the princess' names for her black sheep is this is not the first incident opening her up to criticism for her racist attitudes.
    Meghan Markle, Fox News, 28 Apr. 2018
  • Jamie, the lawyer, is the resident whipping boy, the black sheep whose ambitions surpass his mettle.
    Lauren Michele Jackson, The New Yorker, 4 Feb. 2023
  • Uranus is the celestial black sheep of our small cosmic family.
    Jennifer Leman, Popular Mechanics, 16 Mar. 2020
  • Chambers describes his father as the family’s original black sheep and credits him as the person who first taught him to hate cops and distrust the wealthy.
    David Peisner, Rolling Stone, 24 Mar. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'black sheep.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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