How to Use sordid in a Sentence

sordid

adjective
  • He shared the sordid details of his past.
  • This sordid saga is a rogue boomerang.
    — Pat Beall, Sun Sentinel, 14 Aug. 2025
  • Watch for my sordid senescent self to slink down a boulevard near you soon.
    — Brett Berk, Car and Driver, 15 July 2022
  • Degas pulls aside the curtain on a sordid truth of that dazzling world.
    — Carol Strickland, The Christian Science Monitor, 4 May 2020
  • In what passes for good news in the sordid mess, he is now confined to desk duty.
    — Paul Butler, Philly.com, 5 Nov. 2017
  • By now her sordid life of crime is somewhat familiar, or should be.
    — Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 8 Nov. 2025
  • Whistler does skip over the Swartz book’s more salacious and sordid details.
    — René A. Guzman, San Antonio Express-News, 11 Oct. 2021
  • This is further evidence that this whole sordid saga was never about the truth.
    — Orrin Hatch, WSJ, 2 Oct. 2018
  • Everything about the story, of course, is the stuff of the most sordid fiction.
    — Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review, 19 Aug. 2019
  • Of course, all of this is in line with Giuliani’s sordid history.
    — Photo: Tom Williams/cq-Roll Call/getty Images., refinery29.com, 20 Nov. 2020
  • The Guardian has a run down of the somewhat sordid machinations.
    — Aaron Pressman, Fortune, 23 Nov. 2020
  • Showalter takes too long to get to the couple’s decline, whizzing by the more sordid details.
    — David Sims, The Atlantic, 25 Sep. 2021
  • In the meantime, here's a look at their sordid comic book history.
    — Graeme McMillan, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 July 2017
  • As the news cycles churned, the sordid details of Jackson’s death emerged.
    — Courtney E. Smith, refinery29.com, 25 June 2019
  • Of course, as with anything on the internet, there’s a sordid element to watch out for.
    — Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 18 Mar. 2023
  • While Stephens is stuffy and stoic, Adam is outgoing but has a sordid past.
    — Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 26 Jan. 2025
  • The search for Alfredo will reveal a sordid past fraught with greed, blackmail and a pile of gambling debts.
    — Anna Marie De La Fuente, Variety, 28 Sep. 2022
  • In the sordid world of professional thieves, con artists, and forgers, the answers are never clear.
    — Spenser Mestel, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Oct. 2024
  • The air was thick with the horrors of its sordid history and the resistance of our ancestors who once stood there.
    — Essence, 10 Oct. 2024
  • Unbeknownst to Maisie, the carousel has a sordid history.
    — Sandra Dallas, Denver Post, 24 Jan. 2026
  • The whole exchange is painful, from the bemused looks of those on-stage, to the audience rumbling as this whole sordid affair plays out.
    — Megan Farokhmanesh, The Verge, 20 Apr. 2018
  • While the Fred and Gladys monikers have somewhat sad, not all royal nicknames come with such sordid stories.
    — Annie Goldsmith, Town & Country, 15 Nov. 2020
  • No choice, no road, no hope— only the endless repetition of the sordid and the semi-tragic.
    — Literary Hub, 3 Mar. 2026
  • This saga threatens to bring a sordid end to the career of one of Leicester's greatest ever players.
    — SI.com, 24 June 2018
  • The only winner in this whole sordid affair is McMahon.
    — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 26 Mar. 2026
  • In the end the truth proved to be merely sordid and mundane, a story beneath even Adamson’s standards.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 18 Oct. 2019
  • One pivotal source emerged under sordid circumstances.
    — David D. Kirkpatrick, New Yorker, 30 Mar. 2026
  • Hear the dish on the sordid and scandalous past of downtown and the historic Maple Park neighborhoods.
    — Elaine Rewolinski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 13 Oct. 2017
  • The show also offered updates on the lives of the three people involved in one of the most sordid scandals of the '90s.
    — Steve Helling, Peoplemag, 6 Jan. 2023
  • And despite the sordid events of last year, Smith said the city will continue to focus on the good aspects of the partnership.
    — Alex Vejar, The Salt Lake Tribune, 22 Feb. 2021

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

Last Updated: