How to Use indecent in a Sentence

indecent

adjective
  • He took indecent pleasure in her troubles.
  • This thing that brings us into the world can so quickly be deemed indecent.
    — Jennifer Wilson, New Yorker, 12 Apr. 2026
  • The in-court performance was to prove that the play wasn’t indecent.
    — Laura Blasey, Los Angeles Times, 7 Jan. 2022
  • This fondling would have looked indecent if anyone had been watching.
    — Tiphanie Yanique, The New Yorker, 28 Oct. 2019
  • This comment was not just indecent.
    — David Frum, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2026
  • He was also charged with six more counts of indecent liberties with a child.
    — charlotteobserver, 20 Oct. 2017
  • In a voice-over, a narrator blasts them all for being indecent and crude.
    — Dasl Yoon, WSJ, 21 July 2021
  • The duo was charged with performing an indecent act in a public place.
    — Michael Nied, PEOPLE, 6 Oct. 2025
  • Simms was charged with one count of indecent liberties with a student.
    — Emma Moon, Charlotte Observer, 7 Aug. 2025
  • There's a sense in which there are some just indecent people in the White House.
    — NBC News, 11 Feb. 2018
  • Morris pleaded guilty last year to five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child as part of a plea agreement.
    — Dan Gooding, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 Mar. 2026
  • It simply wasn’t done; therefore, the doing of it was indecent.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Dec. 2021
  • They were booked with indecent exposure and released on bond, the story said.
    — NOLA.com, 28 May 2017
  • At the time, books like Adams’s were considered indecent and often burned.
    — New York Times, 2 July 2021
  • Implying that my body was indecent.
    — Helen Molesworth, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2025
  • Anything that would seem indecent to a policeman—a drawing of a big cock—[would get them in trouble].
    — Joe Hagan, Vanity Fair, 26 Feb. 2026
  • The use of obscene or indecent clothing or signs will result in expulsion.
    — Ed Masley, AZCentral.com, 31 Mar. 2026
  • Despite the backlash from the press, which called her indecent, Lenglen went on to win the tournament.
    — Anna Purna Kambhampaty, Time, 5 Sep. 2019
  • He is charged with two counts of indecent liberties by a custodian.
    — Washington Post, 4 Nov. 2017
  • One of them had in the past received a caution for distributing indecent images of children.
    — The Economist, 27 Nov. 2019
  • He is also being held on preliminary charges of the indecent handling of a corpse.
    — Bloomberg.com, 8 Oct. 2017
  • Only men were gibbeted, as it was thought to be indecent to display a woman’s body in such a grotesque manner.
    — Tara Ramanathan, Encyclopedia Britannica, 25 Mar. 2026
  • Taking a hard-nosed view of someone’s decades-long public life is somehow indecent, according to this norm.
    — Harish C Menon, Quartz India, 26 Aug. 2019
  • Zola was a popular novelist, but many thought him a scandalous and indecent one.
    — Allan Massie, WSJ, 29 Sep. 2017
  • Brigham has been charged with first-degree burglary, statutory rape of a child by an adult, and indecent liberties with a child.
    — Madison E. Goldberg, PEOPLE, 12 Dec. 2025
  • Anyone else in the room would expect to be arrested for behaving in such an indecent way in public, the man said.
    — Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald, 26 Oct. 2025
  • Moody became a staunch defender of artistic freedom, even of work labeled indecent.
    — Linda Gordon, The New Republic, 5 Apr. 2018
  • Both propositions are flawed, not least because of the indecent haste in which analysts have jumped to conclusions.
    — Vasuki Shastry, Forbes, 15 Oct. 2021
  • The charge was later reduced to indecent liberties with a minor female child, a 10-year felony.
    — Elisha Anderson, Detroit Free Press, 21 May 2018
  • He was charged with two counts of child molestation and two counts of enticing a child for indecent purposes, according to court records.
    — Charna Flam, PEOPLE, 10 Jan. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'indecent.' 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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