as in immoral
not conforming to a high moral standard; morally unacceptable
chastised by his minister for his sinful behavior
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Recent Examples of sinful
Sure, or shoplifting or anything that feels sinful or wrong.
—
Sharyn Alfonsi, CBS News, 8 Dec. 2025
In New York, the story goes that the sloppily sinful sandwich on rye bread was named for the founder of New York’s Reuben Restaurant.
—Terry Ward, CNN Money, 15 Nov. 2025
There have long been debates in churches about whether just listening to worldly music was sinful, let alone playing it.
—Vann R. Newkirk Ii, The Atlantic, 18 Oct. 2025
The brothers' cousin, Sammie, is torn between his father's advice to stay away from blues music — something his pastor father believes is sinful — and his talent for playing guitar.
—Angelika Ytuarte, jsonline.com, 23 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for sinful
Sharyn Alfonsi, CBS News, 8 Dec. 2025
In New York, the story goes that the sloppily sinful sandwich on rye bread was named for the founder of New York’s Reuben Restaurant.
—Terry Ward, CNN Money, 15 Nov. 2025
There have long been debates in churches about whether just listening to worldly music was sinful, let alone playing it.
—Vann R. Newkirk Ii, The Atlantic, 18 Oct. 2025
The brothers' cousin, Sammie, is torn between his father's advice to stay away from blues music — something his pastor father believes is sinful — and his talent for playing guitar.
—Angelika Ytuarte, jsonline.com, 23 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for sinful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sinful
Adjective
-
Gay and transgender people are immoral.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
22 Feb. 2026
-
Cooperation feels not only impossible, but immoral.—
Joe Palaggi,
Twin Cities,
11 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Newcomers to the popular franchise are Greta Lee as the evil Lilypad game tablet and Conan O'Brien playing a hilarious potty training toy called Smarty Pants.—
Jeff Spry,
Space.com,
20 Feb. 2026
-
Some cities in China have banned fireworks out of concerns over safety and air pollution, but the measures are controversial as firecrackers, traditionally used to scare off evil spirits, remain central to Lunar New Year celebrations.—
Reuters,
NBC news,
19 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
These new regulations impose the world’s fastest removal deadline, requiring platforms to take down unlawful synthetic media within three hours of notification.—
Munis Raza,
Interesting Engineering,
20 Feb. 2026
-
On Wednesday, a coalition of health and environmental groups sued the EPA over the revocation, calling it unlawful and harmful.—
Dorany Pineda,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
The hard fact is that genius isn’t reserved for the worthy any more than misfortune is reserved for the wicked.—
Theater Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
18 Feb. 2026
-
Their climax came on June 9, when McCarthy was bested by Joseph Welch, the Army’s chief counsel and a man possessed of a laser-sharp legal mind and a wicked sense of humor.—
Kristen Monroe,
Chicago Tribune,
17 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Just last week the president tweeted a vile and disgusting image of President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, and refuses to apologize.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
18 Feb. 2026
-
Before, during, and after the founding of the United States, our cities, States, and country have continuously relied upon capital punishment as the ultimate deterrent and only proper punishment for the vilest crimes.—
StyleCaster Editors,
StyleCaster,
17 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
There are fun villains; Reggie’s nemesis is a sneakily vicious NFL alum (Craig Robinson) with the splendid name Jerry Basmati.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
20 Feb. 2026
-
Anderson received the Sydney Schanberg Prize for his reporting on decades of war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where regional and global actors have fuelled one of the world’s most vicious entrenched conflicts.—
The New Yorker,
New Yorker,
18 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
The dragon is said to scare away bad spirits and bring good luck.—
Staff report,
Daily News,
22 Feb. 2026
-
Weapon system autonomously detects and classifies moving targets The company revealed that the weapon system autonomously detects and classifies moving targets in poor visibility situations caused by darkness, bad weather, smoke or dust kicked up by helicopters.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
22 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Both teams wore their dark jerseys for the 266th meeting between the teams and UCLA improved to 150-116 in a series dating to 1928 when UCLA joined the Pacific Coast Conference.—
Steve Galluzzo,
Los Angeles Times,
25 Feb. 2026
-
In all, eight of the 28 shows lost a performance (many productions are dark on Sunday nights anyway), and most took significant box office blows.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
24 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Sinful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sinful. Accessed 26 Feb. 2026.
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