Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Lacks, a 31-year-old mother from Baltimore, Maryland, began experiencing pain in her abdomen and abnormal bleeding in 1951.

From BBC • Feb. 27, 2026

I think about Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman who died at the age of 31 from cervical cancer.

From Slate • Jan. 11, 2026

But for defendant’s counsel it was a miscarriage of law: “Objection. Calls for legal conclusion. Calls for expert opinion. Relevance. Lacks foundation,” she interjected, prompting a weary, “Overruled,” from the judge.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 16, 2025

Some even envision the immortality of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman whose cells were taken without consent for what became revolutionary breakthroughs in medicine, as an Afrofuturist parable.

From New York Times • Mar. 16, 2024

There’s no record of Benjamin or Albert Lacks marrying or having any white children, and as with Albert, there’s no record that the black children in Benjamin’s will were his own.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot