Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
One night the goddess Kālī came to the Rājā’s palace and knocked at the gate: but no one would come to open it.
From Folklore of the Santal Parganas by Bompas, Cecil Henry
“It’s a special time of year,” said Kali Kniel, a professor of microbial food safety at the University of Delaware.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Tattooist Kali says she was "ecstatic" when she learned of the court's decision last week.
From BBC ● May 29, 2026
Volunteer Kali Rodriguez, right, helps Ashley Luna, 18, from Fairfax High School, to find the perfect prom dress for her at the Positive Results Center 10th annual Prom Dress & Tux Gift-Away and Resource Fair.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2026
US retailer Hollister and footwear giant Crocs dropped D4vd from marketing campaigns and Telepatía singer Kali Uchis announced she was taking down their collaboration, Crashing.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2025
Sometimes Janaki or Kali would come to see how I was getting on, but not often, for they were kept busy looking after husband and children.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
Some scholars have suggested that the name was derived from the Latin words calida fornax, meaning a hot furnace, or from a Native American phrase, kali forno, that means high hill or native land.
From New York Times ● Apr. 16, 2024
The handheld tablet beeped as if imitating R2-D2 and then said what sounded like, “Aya tai ahili che dev kali musha.”
From Slate ● May 11, 2012
Aug. 14 kali: Sunflowers are all over the place lately.
From Time Magazine Archive
Much of this unofficial labor is carried out in the open air and is called jua kali -- "hot sun."
From Time Magazine Archive
And for traditional Hindus, leaving India and traveling on the ocean—it was called “crossing the black water,” the kali pana—was forbidden.
From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson
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.
