How to Use dissolute in a Sentence

dissolute

adjective
  • Kif is approached by Ray, a fast-living, dissolute childhood friend, with the offer of a real writing gig.
    Olen Steinhauer, New York Times, 1 June 2018
  • Francis is the first pope to name himself after the mendicant friar, who renounced a wealthy, dissolute lifestyle to embrace a life of poverty and service to the poor.
    CBS News, 5 Oct. 2020
  • One, Candy, is a dissolute superstar who abuses co-workers, shows up on set plastered and moans about how awful her privileged life is.
    Chris Hewitt, Star Tribune, 10 Dec. 2020
  • Tom Holland, the author of wide-lens books about ancient and medieval history, spoke about Caligula and other dissolute Roman leaders.
    Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 23 Aug. 2021
  • He was appalled by the corruption and dissolute attitude toward the people, both by U.S. and Nationalist troops.
    Harrison Smith, Washington Post, 25 Aug. 2019
  • Through friends, Shakira hears stories of dissolute cities filled with broken marriages and prostitution.
    Anand Gopal, The New Yorker, 6 Sep. 2021
  • Her mother, Cora, a travelling nurse with an artistic streak, divorced her children’s dissolute father in 1901.
    Maggie Doherty, The New Yorker, 9 May 2022
  • The Argentine Jesuit is the first-ever pope to have named himself after the 13th century friar, who renounced a wealthy, dissolute lifestyle to embrace a life of poverty and simplicity.
    Fox News, 12 Nov. 2021
  • Lady Anne did work her charms on prospective husbands—from dissolute aristocrats to powerful commoners—but not only on them.
    Martin Rubin, WSJ, 4 Aug. 2017
  • What haunts the household in this classic of 19th century realism isn’t so much the spirit of the dead, dissolute patriarch, Captain Alving, as the tonnage of family secrets buried in the bad faith and moribund morality of a shameful past.
    Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 13 Sep. 2022
  • Then the girl’s dissolute preacher brother Jib (Corey Spruill) arrives, uninvited and dangerous.
    Misha Berson, The Seattle Times, 19 July 2017
  • And Queen Victoria was just 18, a fresh girl-queen and a fresh start after a generation of dissolute royal men who spent like wastrels and fathered more illegitimate children than legitimate ones.
    Los Angeles Times, 4 Feb. 2022
  • Even legendarily dissolute playboy Ty Dolla $ign opens his new album Campaign with an exhortation to vote.
    Miles Raymer, Esquire, 12 Oct. 2016
  • My hair fell out like Hemingway’s dissolute Scotsman fell into bankruptcy: gradually, and then suddenly.
    Anna Ostrom, The Cut, 5 Apr. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dissolute.' 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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