as in sex
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Recent Examples of fornication
Strong was promoted to Hand of the King after King Viserys banished Otto Hightower from court in the wake of allegations of fornication between Princess Rhaenyra and Prince Daemon.
—
Sean T. Collins, Vulture, 13 June 2024
If the apparent maidservant was actually a man committing fornication that might lead to another servant’s falling pregnant, then Hall was a materially destabilizing influence in the community.
—Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 26 Aug. 2024
Co-created by the Egyptian American comedian Ramy Youssef, the show gives viewers a peek into the dirty mind of an unmarried Muslim twentysomething struggling to reconcile his duelling devotions: faith and fornication.
—Jennifer Wilson, The New Yorker, 29 Apr. 2024
Cleon is in the throes of hot, sweaty fornication with his robot aid, Laura Birn's Eto, when a group of assassins infiltrate his quarters and attack.
—Nick Romano, EW.com, 10 July 2023
Because surely, surely, the housewives of Dublin were not so lustful that chance encounters with tradesmen led immediately to attacks of passion and fornication?
—Mary Costello, The New Yorker, 9 Oct. 2023
Charlotte, Harry, Lisa, and Herbert are gathered to send their kids off to summer camp, guaranteeing a few weeks of unfettered fornication.
—Aimée Lutkin, ELLE, 6 July 2023
Anthony Mackie and Zoë Chao star as a pair of astronauts stranded aboard a NASA shuttle that gets lost in space, and their decent onscreen chemistry helps fuel a rom-com tackling questions of fidelity, friendship and, well, fornication, as the would-be couple endlessly drifts through the cosmos.
—Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 Mar. 2023
This judge, who believes gay people are disordered and that being transgender is a mental illness, also laments widespread contraception and the elimination of legal penalties for fornication and adultery.
—Globe Columnist, BostonGlobe.com, 15 Mar. 2023
Sean T. Collins, Vulture, 13 June 2024
If the apparent maidservant was actually a man committing fornication that might lead to another servant’s falling pregnant, then Hall was a materially destabilizing influence in the community.
—Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 26 Aug. 2024
Co-created by the Egyptian American comedian Ramy Youssef, the show gives viewers a peek into the dirty mind of an unmarried Muslim twentysomething struggling to reconcile his duelling devotions: faith and fornication.
—Jennifer Wilson, The New Yorker, 29 Apr. 2024
Cleon is in the throes of hot, sweaty fornication with his robot aid, Laura Birn's Eto, when a group of assassins infiltrate his quarters and attack.
—Nick Romano, EW.com, 10 July 2023
Because surely, surely, the housewives of Dublin were not so lustful that chance encounters with tradesmen led immediately to attacks of passion and fornication?
—Mary Costello, The New Yorker, 9 Oct. 2023
Charlotte, Harry, Lisa, and Herbert are gathered to send their kids off to summer camp, guaranteeing a few weeks of unfettered fornication.
—Aimée Lutkin, ELLE, 6 July 2023
Anthony Mackie and Zoë Chao star as a pair of astronauts stranded aboard a NASA shuttle that gets lost in space, and their decent onscreen chemistry helps fuel a rom-com tackling questions of fidelity, friendship and, well, fornication, as the would-be couple endlessly drifts through the cosmos.
—Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 Mar. 2023
This judge, who believes gay people are disordered and that being transgender is a mental illness, also laments widespread contraception and the elimination of legal penalties for fornication and adultery.
—Globe Columnist, BostonGlobe.com, 15 Mar. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fornication
Noun
-
Raising awareness and accepting that autistic children of both sexes should be allowed special accommodations at school, such as taking tests in a separate room or wearing headphones.—
Matt Villano,
CNN Money,
2 Apr. 2025
-
The changes came after President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring that the U.S. government would only recognize two unchangeable sexes, male and female.—
Kaitlyn Schwanemann,
NBC news,
31 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Villanueva, his instincts honed by his decades of service as a lawman, intuits that the only way a human being can reasonably incur a rug burn is via high-friction hotel room coitus with a 250-pound man.—
Chris Klimek,
Vulture,
20 Mar. 2025
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Adding to these racial fetish undertones is a Black family servant whose coitus with Lucy’s soon-to-be sister-in-law (a white woman with box braids) is also constantly on display, leaving her to pleasure herself when he’s called away.—
Nicholas Bell,
SPIN,
31 July 2024
Noun
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Painful intercourse can be caused by several common issues.—
CNN.com Wire Service,
Mercury News,
24 Mar. 2025
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As the Cleveland Clinic says, symptoms include burning, itching, spotting, and painful intercourse.—
Cara Lynn Shultz,
People.com,
28 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Put another way, the three latest Brood X generation map perfectly to milestones in my life cycle: birth, coition, procreation.—
Ross Kenneth Urken,
Scientific American,
14 June 2021
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But the course of the hunt itself is unnameable and uncontrollable, like coition.—
Roberto Calasso,
Harper's Magazine,
30 Mar. 2020
Noun
-
The scene — shot long before the days of intimacy coordinators — goes on for quite some time, and features both actors in the nude (almost — there were modesty coverings out of view) being quite vigorous in their simulated lovemaking.—
Seth Abramovitch,
The Hollywood Reporter,
28 Feb. 2025
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The only real originality in the accounts of Jesus’ virgin birth is their distinctly Jewish and prudish tone, with the impregnation dignified and at arm’s length rather than represented, as in the Hellenistic myths, as a shower of gold or the lovemaking of an amorous swan.—
Adam Gopnik,
The New Yorker,
24 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
American society and our relations with other societies are driven by the competition/conflict choice.—
Letters to the Editor,
Orlando Sentinel,
4 Jan. 2025
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The concerns over trade relations stem from a history of tariffs, sanctions, and disputes that have strained the ties between the world's two largest economies.—
Dan Perry,
Newsweek,
3 Jan. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fornication.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fornication. Accessed 21 Apr. 2025.
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