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.

A furious 1987 Donald Moffett poster, dedicated to Gay Men’s Health Crisis Director Diego Lopez, juxtaposes the AIDS-indifferent Hollywood president, smirking vapidly above the phrase, “He kills me,” next to a screaming orange bull’s-eye.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 24, 2025

As with most trolls, the point of his vapidly provocative tweets is to offend and alarm his ideological enemies, whose outrage only serves to boost his signal to the great big world beyond Twitter.

From Slate • Dec. 16, 2022

At the end, cozily occupying the sweet spot between the roundly unifying and the vapidly uncontroversial, Olivia Colman, who recently won an Oscar for playing Queen Anne, said something about tea.

From New York Times • Mar. 23, 2019

It seems vapidly upbeat, as though it is missing a jaunty thumbs-up and a “by golly!” at the end.

From Washington Post • Nov. 15, 2018

Often at his desk there, his mind became strangely obtunded and he babbled vapidly; his big face pinched up till it seemed lean and grey, and he pitched forward, face down, upon the desk.

From Sally of Missouri by Young, Rose E. (Rose Emmet)