as in womanizing
formal + disapproving
to have sexual intercourse
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Recent Examples of fornicating
These are unhappy hedonists, boozing and fornicating for lack of fulfillment.
—
Dan Stahl, New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2026
Dan Stahl, New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fornicating
Verb
-
The writer reckons with the charismatic, philandering father who tried to mold his son in his image.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
18 Mar. 2026
-
Released in 1958, Attack told of a wealthy heiress, fresh from a stint at a mental institution, who is turned into a giantess and then deals with her philandering husband and his no-good, money-grubbing floozy.—
Borys Kit,
HollywoodReporter,
9 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
After copulating, the two males lay immobile on the seafloor as the female swam away.—
Jack Guy,
CNN Money,
24 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
The most likely explanation for this mirror image pattern is mating behavior.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
26 Feb. 2026
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His team found an association between a symbol that looks like the letter Y and the time at which the animals depicted on the object gave birth, as well as a link between an X and the time of year the animals were seen mating.—
Jacopo Prisco,
CNN Money,
25 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Zeus did not approve of his daughter fooling around with this mortal roughneck hunter and put out a hit on Orion.—
Mike Lynch,
Twin Cities,
8 Mar. 2026
-
The transition was rough for Ansari, who wasn’t fluent in English and often got in trouble for fooling around in school.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fornicating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fornicating. Accessed 23 Mar. 2026.
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