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Lothario comes from The Fair Penitent (1703), a tragedy by Nicholas Rowe. In the play, Lothario is a notorious seducer, extremely attractive but a haughty and unfeeling scoundrel beneath his charming exterior. He seduces Calista, an unfaithful wife and later the fair penitent of the title. After the play was published, the character of Lothario became a stock figure in English literature. For example, Samuel Richardson modeled the character of Lovelace on Lothario in his 1748 novel Clarissa. As the character became well known, his name became progressively more generic, and lothario (often capitalized) has since been used to describe a foppish, unscrupulous rake.

Examples of lothario in a Sentence

a novel about the loveless existence of an aging lothario

Recent Examples on the Web On paper, new society entrant Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran) makes a perfect choice for the erstwhile lothario. — David Oliver, USA TODAY, 23 Mar. 2022 Young Ariana Neal is memorable as Jess, a kind of gofer at the ’90s Visser; Evan Jonigkeit is creepy as Samuel, the Visser’s lothario and worse. — John Anderson, WSJ, 13 Jan. 2022 The famous quartet is vividly staged, as Maddalena romances the lothario duke in an upstairs bedroom, while downstairs at the bar the stunned Gilda listens with Rigoletto. — New York Times, 2 Jan. 2022 The 26-year-old stars as Max, a pansexual, pot-stirring lothario who most closely resembles Chuck Bass from the OG series. — Anna Moeslein, Glamour, 8 July 2021 As the titular bassist lothario, Michael Cera hippity-hops through the song like somebody’s tapping his jump button. — Darren Franich, EW.com, 13 Aug. 2020 And there was Shane, an irresistible, monosyllabic lothario, who inspired both ire and emulation. — Crispin Long, The New Yorker, 11 Dec. 2019 Now Danny is frowningly married in the suburbs, while Karl is a downtown lothario dating women too young for Dennis Rodman references. — Darren Franich, EW.com, 5 June 2019 Co-written with his brother, Carlos Cuarón,Sólo con Tu Pareja, follows the exploits of Tomás Tomás, a lothario who is eventually taught a lesson by an ex-lover. — Amy Mackelden, Harper's BAZAAR, 23 Feb. 2019 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'lothario.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.