How to Use dutiful in a Sentence

dutiful

adjective

• But this, frankly, gets short shrift, and feels more dutiful than inspired.
  — David Treuer, The New York Review of Books, 17 Nov. 2020
• Lawrence is his dutiful wife who spends her time rehabbing the old house.
  — Michael Heaton, cleveland.com, 15 Sep. 2017
• Mary was the dutiful daughter, staying close to home all her life.
  — Literary Hub, 11 Mar. 2026
• William has to spend the rest of his life being cautious, dutiful, and dull.
  — Sarah Lyall, Town & Country, 8 Jan. 2013
• When the work feels dutiful, there’s less incentive to suit up.
  — Sean Gregory, Time, 11 Sep. 2019
• The dutiful officer put the query up the ranks.
  — Rachel Chang, Travel + Leisure, 7 Dec. 2025
• Michael is the dutiful son who works day and night to provide for his family.
  — Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 10 Apr. 2024
• But this otherwise dutiful son already had some ideas of his own.
  — James Marcus, The New Yorker, 1 June 2020
• Dozens of solemn, dutiful citizens milled around, waiting to hear our fates.
  — Susana Morris, Longreads, 8 Sep. 2017
• William, 40, is the heir, a dutiful second to their father, the new king.
  — William Booth, Washington Post, 14 Sep. 2022
• When a runner came by, Hal and I would get back to being dutiful.
  — Devin Kelly, Longreads, 19 Jan. 2022
• Now the store was empty, the dutiful manager at his post, behind the counter.
  — New York Times, 25 Jan. 2022
• Even after all these years on the same show, there’s nothing about their energy that feels dutiful.
  — James Hibberd, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Aug. 2024
• Like that dutiful mastiff, this Urus is happiest when let off the leash.
  — Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 17 June 2026
• Being seen as such—and pious and dutiful to boot—was what gave them the license to speak in public and to write.
  — Margaret Talbot, The New Yorker, 15 July 2024
• David, high strung and dutiful, is leading the life of a responsible adult.
  — TIME, 1 Nov. 2024
• Yes, Nalini makes rotis and wants her daughter to be dutiful.
  — S. Mitra Kalita, CNN, 2 May 2020
• Kate, seeing the Queen, gave her mother-in-law a dutiful curtsy.
  — Chloe Foussianes, Town & Country, 26 Dec. 2019
• Playing the doting, dutiful partner to the wrong person in hopes of changing them is a canon event.
  — Ineye Komonibo, refinery29.com, 20 Feb. 2024
• This movie is too often humorless and dutiful.
  — Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 21 Nov. 2025
• Her son, Navaraj, is obedient and dutiful.
  — Jessica Vantine Birkenholtz, The Conversation, 24 Mar. 2026
• Mercifully, a dutiful crab and a dim-witted seagull can pick up the slack.
  — Lincee Ray, Entertainment Weekly, 25 June 2026
• While most comments were about pet cats, some of the felines killed were part of colonies being looked after by dutiful locals.
  — Christopher Harress | [email protected], al, 23 Oct. 2019
• So many dutiful Bills fans showed up on Friday that lines snaked around the stadium for hours.
  — Jalen Wright, New York Times, 20 Jan. 2024
• The poem contrasts this process with dutiful, dry record-keeping, which is more faithful to what’s known but evokes less of what’s not.
  — Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 1 June 2026
• For years, the public works director was the city’s cleanup man and dutiful caretaker.
  — Jason W. Lloren, SFChronicle.com, 3 Feb. 2020
• Warda has made in becoming the dutiful wife of a man in prison are nothing in Amira’s eyes.
  — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 28 Oct. 2021
• Hansen portrayed himself as a dutiful husband and father and later claimed that his wife was unaware of his crimes.
  — Caroline Blair, PEOPLE, 3 June 2026
• Hansen portrayed himself as a dutiful husband and father and later claimed that his wife was unaware of his crimes.
  — Caroline Blair, People.com, 21 Aug. 2025
• These are some of the few scenes in which the director loosens up and sheds the dutiful posture that can come from adapting a canonical text.
  — Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 31 Aug. 2024