How to Use cardinal sin in a Sentence

cardinal sin

noun
  • That's a cardinal sin in this league.
    — Joe Kinsey Outkick, FOXNews.com, 12 June 2026
  • Steven made the cardinal sin of telling Sage to gain trust with her.
    — Brian Moylan, Vulture, 27 Nov. 2025
  • Betting on one’s team is a cardinal sin in sports.
    — Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 10 June 2026
  • To release a Black song with no bass line was seen as a cardinal sin.
    — Ahmir “questlove” Thompson, VIBE.com, 7 June 2026
  • Betting on one’s own team has long been considered a cardinal sin in sports.
    — Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 9 June 2026
  • To lose it is the cardinal sin in Hollywood.
    — Stephanie Nolasco, FOXNews.com, 24 Aug. 2025
  • In science, making up data is a cardinal sin.
    — Ambuj Tewari, The Conversation, 18 Nov. 2025
  • And the very thought of chucking a book into the garbage simply because of its unsightly cover, or lack thereof, is a cardinal sin.
    — Literary Hub, 14 July 2025
  • The nutria’s cardinal sin, however, is gluttony.
    — Nathaniel Rich, Harpers Magazine, 20 Aug. 2025
  • If upstaging the bride is a cardinal sin of wedding etiquette, one guest from Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's nuptials might have some explaining to do.
    — Edward Segarra, USA Today, 6 July 2026
  • An attack by civilians on the army headquarters is the sort of cardinal sin the military is unlikely to forgive, regardless of clever lawyers and convincing legal arguments.
    — Rafia Zakaria, Time, 6 Nov. 2025
  • But that doesn’t mean that artificially sugared sodas, retail consumption, or social media are depraved, worthless activities akin to the cardinal sin of sloth or the tragic spiral of heroin addiction.
    — Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 16 June 2026
  • There are any number of things the school could do to support his recovery — honoring his scholarship, setting him up with the best doctors and counselors — that do not include letting a guy who violated the cardinal sin of sports be their starting quarterback.
    — Stewart Mandel, New York Times, 11 June 2026
  • However, failing to infuse this team with appreciably more talent in the coming weeks, and thereby denying the Pats a real chance to march through the gauntlet that is their 2026 schedule, would be a cardinal sin of contending.
    — Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 27 Feb. 2026
  • Although Sorsby wagered on many other sports — including men’s basketball games at Indiana and Cincinnati when he was enrolled at those schools — betting on your own team’s games has been a cardinal sin in college and pro sports for more than a century.
    — Matt Baker, New York Times, 8 June 2026
  • Brian Wysol and his collaborators (producers of Robot Chicken and Rick and Morty) commit the cardinal sin of trying to be weird and failing in an uninteresting way.
    — Eric Vilas-Boas, Vulture, 18 Mar. 2026
  • Aside from looking like the whole thing was written and produced by her staff, Melania makes the cardinal sin of just being simply, butt-numbingly boring, especially in the forever-taking last act of sitting through the inauguration all over again in eye-drooping detail.
    — Pete Hammond, Deadline, 30 Jan. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cardinal sin.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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