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.

“You don’t want to live through this, per se,” she suggests about Fiona Apple’s anxieties, which the singer bares in “The Idler Wheel . . . ,” her self-lacerating 2012 album.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 24, 2026

Get sucked into its simple, hummable melody and risk missing the song’s deft twisting of its chorus from empowerment anthem into self-lacerating critique.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 14, 2021

His characters could be jaded, ironic, self-lacerating and acerbic, defining character traits captured in lyrics to “Now You Know” from his 1981 musical “Merrily We Roll Along.”

From Washington Post • Nov. 26, 2021

Either way, his quicksilver mind and self-lacerating sense of humor made him a magnet for mentors and big brothers.

From New York Times • Aug. 14, 2021

It is to his credit that he did not sink into Byronic misanthropy and bitter self-lacerating scorn, or even into Heine's irreverence and persiflage.

From Weird Tales, Vol. II. by Hoffmann, E. T. A. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus)