as in sex
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Recent Examples of fornication
Having struck out with Nicholas, Laura is forced to return to her old tactics: impeding fornication.
—
Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 10 Sep. 2025
Songs were also frequently flagged as dance music—while authorities viewed singing as having a proper place in praising God, dancing was totally forbidden as a gateway to fornication.
—Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 9 May 2025
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
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
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
Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 10 Sep. 2025
Songs were also frequently flagged as dance music—while authorities viewed singing as having a proper place in praising God, dancing was totally forbidden as a gateway to fornication.
—Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 9 May 2025
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
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
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fornication
Noun
-
The findings, from 1,592 U.S. citizens of different ages, sexes, races and incomes, were collected between Dec. 20 and Dec. 22.—
Nicholas Rice,
PEOPLE,
28 Dec. 2025
-
On his first day in office, Mr. Trump signed an executive order that declared the federal government would recognize only two immutable sexes: male and female.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
18 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
Detectives with the sheriff’s Child Abuse Bureau led the investigation and obtained an arrest warrant for Rutherford on one count of oral copulation on a victim 10 years old or younger and three counts of committing lewd and lascivious acts with a child younger than 14.—
Rosalio Ahumada,
Sacbee.com,
19 Dec. 2025
-
In Heated Rivalry, there is consummation aplenty, but the copulation escalates in its own competitive terms.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
26 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
What this means for me, practically speaking, is that the director wants a close-up of my face as my character Joe is deep in dissociative reverie mid-coitus.—
Sophie Ansari,
Vulture,
25 Sep. 2025
-
When coitus occurs, it’s scored by unctuous music.—
Vinson Cunningham,
New Yorker,
18 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
On top of that, one of Colvin’s classmates, Jeremiah Reeves, had recently been arrested for having intercourse with a white woman.—
Essence,
Essence,
15 Jan. 2026
-
British prosecutors said Johnston used threats and intimidation to force the woman into having intercourse with the men, per the outlet.—
Sean Neumann,
PEOPLE,
9 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The Marshalls rescued her from Lake Copeland so she wouldn’t be harmed by her parents, a mating pair of swans who still live there.—
Ryan Gillespie,
The Orlando Sentinel,
24 Jan. 2026
-
Among these dolphins, males with close social bonds spend much of their time together, often traveling, foraging, mating and resting in the same groups.—
Hasmik Kirakosyan,
Scientific American,
23 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
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
-
But the course of the hunt itself is unnameable and uncontrollable, like coition.—
Roberto Calasso,
Harper's Magazine,
30 Mar. 2020
Noun
-
This is a broad category of misbehaviors, ranging from excessive public displays of affection to actual lovemaking on the plane.—
Christopher Elliott,
Dallas Morning News,
14 Jan. 2026
-
Inside, storylines followed a formula with frequently dire consequences for the twisted woman who dared indulge in, by today’s standards, some pretty tame lovemaking.—
Trish Bendix
August 21,
Literary Hub,
21 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
The duo’s departure leaves Japan without any pandas for the first time in more than five decades, at a time when relations between Asia’s two biggest economies are at their lowest point in years.—
Chris Lau,
CNN Money,
25 Jan. 2026
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Over the subsequent stories, Goodman crafts subtle investigations of the relations between siblings, the fine blend of anxiety and pride parents feel for their offspring, and the bemused affection an aunt or uncle might feel for their aimless nieces or haphazard nephews.—
Chloe Schama,
Vogue,
24 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fornication.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fornication. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
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