sinful
Americanadjective
adjective
-
having committed or tending to commit sin
a sinful person
-
characterized by or being a sin
a sinful act
Other Word Forms
- sinfully adverb
- sinfulness noun
- unsinful adjective
- unsinfully adverb
- unsinfulness noun
Etymology
Origin of sinful
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English synfull. See sin 1, -ful
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.
Behavioural science can also impact your choice on more sinful things too.
From BBC • Jan. 28, 2026
The South Carolina secession convention declared the state was leaving the Union because northerners “have denounced as sinful the institution of slavery.”
From Slate • Sep. 24, 2025
Nevertheless, some of his more proximate misdeeds are effectively used to make clear that Mantel's antihero is, in the denouement of his life, fully alert to his sinful state.
From Salon • Mar. 23, 2025
“If you want God to forgive you for all your sins — and we are sinful … then you have to forgive others. That’s love one another and love thy enemy.”
From Washington Times • Oct. 4, 2023
He looked about imploringly for help in defending his country’s future against the obnoxious calumnies of this sly and sinful assailant.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
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.
