as in to play (around)
formal + disapproving
to have sexual intercourse
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of fornicate
Jelly doubled down on the jokes about fornicating with Kit Wilson’s mom before Kit attacked Jelly and laid him out with a corkscrew elbow.
—
Alfred Konuwa,
Forbes.com,
21 Mar. 2026
These are unhappy hedonists, boozing and fornicating for lack of fulfillment.
—
Dan Stahl,
New Yorker,
13 Mar. 2026
Tenants like Thomas have sent Gorman and Company scores of photos and videos showing people in the hallways fornicating, using drugs, sleeping and fighting, among other unsavory activities.
—
Everett Eaton,
jsonline.com,
31 Oct. 2025
When female artists came calling, his staff would vacate, and according to office lore, the Gar Man would fornicate with a lucky few.
—
Tom Freston,
Vulture,
28 Oct. 2025
Age-old paintings of satyrs bedding nymphs and mythological figures fornicating have been newly unearthed at a small house at Pompeii.
—
Alex Greenberger For Artnews,
Robb Report,
30 Oct. 2024
Age-old paintings of satyrs bedding nymphs and mythological figures fornicating have been newly unearthed at a small house at Pompeii.
—
Alex Greenberger,
ARTnews.com,
25 Oct. 2024
Alfred Konuwa,
Forbes.com,
21 Mar. 2026
These are unhappy hedonists, boozing and fornicating for lack of fulfillment.
—
Dan Stahl,
New Yorker,
13 Mar. 2026
Tenants like Thomas have sent Gorman and Company scores of photos and videos showing people in the hallways fornicating, using drugs, sleeping and fighting, among other unsavory activities.
—
Everett Eaton,
jsonline.com,
31 Oct. 2025
When female artists came calling, his staff would vacate, and according to office lore, the Gar Man would fornicate with a lucky few.
—
Tom Freston,
Vulture,
28 Oct. 2025
Age-old paintings of satyrs bedding nymphs and mythological figures fornicating have been newly unearthed at a small house at Pompeii.
—
Alex Greenberger For Artnews,
Robb Report,
30 Oct. 2024
Age-old paintings of satyrs bedding nymphs and mythological figures fornicating have been newly unearthed at a small house at Pompeii.
—
Alex Greenberger,
ARTnews.com,
25 Oct. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fornicate
Verb
-
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.
-
That his father was a difficult, violent, womanizing alcoholic, holding 34 jobs in 44 years.
Verb
-
While copulating, female praying mantises often kill their mates and eat them.
-
In Second Nature, scientists theorize that Darwin couldn’t help but impose his own heterosexual ideations on animal reproduction, mainly that animals only copulate for the purposes of reproduction, with males being the aggressors and females fluttering their eyelids behind lace fans, or something.
Verb
-
Another horny couple on vacation couldn’t wait until their flight landed to fool around and insisted on doing so in the plane's cabin.
-
Zeus did not approve of his daughter fooling around with this mortal roughneck hunter and put out a hit on Orion.
Cite this Entry
“Fornicate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fornicate. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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