capital offense
CulturalExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In each of the New England colonies, witchcraft was considered a capital offense.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 31, 2023
The judge said she was reluctant to grant bond but state statute forces her hand because the charges do not include a capital offense.
From Fox News ● Dec. 15, 2021
The Malicious Shooting or Stabbing Act of 1803 outlawed the “malicious using of means to procure the miscarriage of women,” and abortion after “quickening” — or fetal movement — was considered a capital offense.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 25, 2020
First of all, a 7-year-old spitting in a soda machine is gross and out of line, but not a capital offense.
From Slate ● Mar. 7, 2018
In many countries it was a capital offense for anyone but the official astrologer to read the portents in the skies: a good way to overthrow a regime was to predict its downfall.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
