How to Use mortal sin in a Sentence

mortal sin

noun
  • And of course, a 4-year-old child is not capable of mortal sin.
    — Michael Schaub, Orange County Register, 15 Feb. 2024
  • Still, to hold this movie up as any kind of mortal sin against filmmaking is both silly and unfair.
    — Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 1 Oct. 2022
  • But more telling is that social media lights the fuse to the mortal sin of comparison.
    — Steve Straessle, Arkansas Online, 15 May 2021
  • At this point, the crowd committed a mortal sin in the state of Indiana.
    — Rory Appleton, The Indianapolis Star, 10 Sep. 2022
  • And in Obamaworld, straying outside your lane was a mortal sin.
    — Katy Waldman, Slate Magazine, 29 Sep. 2017
  • For more than a century, gambling was the one great mortal sin in American sports.
    — Matt Ford, The New Republic, 26 Jan. 2023
  • And for an artist of his stature, known for putting an unmistakable stamp on the genres and eras of his choosing, that's the one mortal sin.
    — Charles Bramesco, Chron, 18 Nov. 2022
  • Coveting thy neighbors’ pears isn’t a mortal sin — indeed, preventing food waste is a virtue.
    — John Hodgman, New York Times, 12 Jan. 2023
  • My concern is that any disagreement with the president is regarded as a mortal sin.
    — Paul Miller, Chicago Tribune, 8 Jan. 2026
  • As long as owners aren’t dumb enough to repeat their mortal sin of collusion, players are getting squeezed by a new world order.
    — Tom Verducci, SI.com, 2 Feb. 2018
  • In these circumstances, personal device/account use is a venal rather than mortal sin.
    — Andy Wright, Slate Magazine, 10 Oct. 2017
  • Leaving your children is only a mortal sin, apparently, when women do it.
    — Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 25 Jan. 2022
  • Staying home from Sunday Mass under these circumstances is not a mortal sin, the archdiocese said.
    — Peggy O’Hare, ExpressNews.com, 13 Mar. 2020
  • For example, Catholics who are married in the church, get divorced and are remarried are, for all intents and purposes, living in a state of mortal sin.
    — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 14 June 2024
  • So far from being an absolute moral imperative, voting was proscribed in Italy under pain of mortal sin as recently as a century ago.
    — Matthew Walther, TheWeek, 16 Aug. 2020
  • During La Russa’s managerial heyday, swinging at a 3-0 pitch in a rout was considered a mortal sin.
    — Paul Sullivan, chicagotribune.com, 19 May 2021
  • As a child, McHale was taught that the Catholic Church considered homosexuality a mortal sin.
    — USA Today, 12 Nov. 2019
  • Faster delivery has a way of making the rest of life seem irritatingly slow and, in America, that practically constitutes a mortal sin.
    — Adam Chandler, The Atlantic, 31 May 2022
  • The characters’ stories intersect, but each is seeking redemption for a different all-consuming regret, while trying to survive a world where regret is a mortal sin.
    — Adi Robertson, The Verge, 10 Aug. 2018
  • Season three is all about Din, who is on a spiritual journey towards redemption after committing the mortal sin of taking off his helmet in front of others in the season two finale.
    — Katie Rife, Chron, 2 Mar. 2023
  • For someone like me, brought up Catholic, mortal sin has remained the secret par excellence, a pagan custom, delicious in its dark-ness and all the human incomprehension that surrounds it.
    — Literary Hub, 31 Mar. 2026
  • In May 1944, the couple tied the knot in a civil ceremony — a mortal sin in the eyes of the Kennedys, especially matriarch Rose.
    — Meredith Kile, PEOPLE, 27 Nov. 2025

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