as in sex
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Recent Examples of fornication
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fornication
Noun
-
The State Department suspended processing applications from Americans seeking to update their passports with a new gender marker in January, shortly after President Trump signed an executive order proclaiming the U.S. recognizes only two unchangeable sexes, male and female.—
Brooke Migdon,
The Hill,
5 Sep. 2025
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President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January saying that the federal government will only recognize two sexes: male and female.—
Sonam Sheth
Gabe Whisnant,
MSNBC Newsweek,
29 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Duran was arrested and booked into jail on charges of oral copulation with a minor under the age of 18, deputies said.—
Paloma Chavez,
Sacbee.com,
14 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Paul, upon learning of their coitus, does not take it well.—
Esther Zuckerman,
IndieWire,
19 May 2025
-
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
Noun
-
Records from a Title IX hearing that were included in the complaint show the university conducted an investigation and that a panel comprising faculty and staff members determined unanimously that nonconsensual intercourse took place.—
Matthew Adams,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
10 Sep. 2025
-
Painful intercourse is not a thing in your world.—
Jocelyn Solis-Moreira,
Flow Space,
3 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Purcell called the discovery novel, noting that while there are already known and unusual mating systems in ants, Iberian harvester ants are among the weirdest — and present more mysteries yet to be understood.—
Ashley Strickland,
CNN Money,
13 Sep. 2025
-
Such noise is particularly critical for cetacean communication, where it is used for navigation, hunting, mating, and social bonding.—
Laura Baisas,
Popular Science,
11 Sep. 2025
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
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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
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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
-
No, thank you, to this mentally ill request for lovemaking.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
17 May 2025
Noun
-
The designation reflects the deteriorating relations between the United States and one of its closest Latin American allies.—
Brady Knox,
The Washington Examiner,
16 Sep. 2025
-
In fact, Astorino said, developments in AI, policy, geopolitical relations and the economy are likely to accelerate both change and complexity.—
Megan Poinski,
Forbes.com,
15 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Fornication.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fornication. Accessed 19 Sep. 2025.
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