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Examples of scarlet letter in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Like the unnamed narrator who finds Hester Prynne’s scarlet letter in the Salem Custom House and then sets about telling her tale, Banks’s narrators are anonymous busybodies and town gossips, nosy neighbors or observers once removed from the action.
—Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 17 Apr. 2024
The two medical students were surprised that in Chicago, adding ketchup could earn someone a scarlet letter.
—Michael Loria, USA TODAY, 13 Apr. 2024
But even those reactionaries to the shifting sensibilities are poised to arrive late at the party or have their shifts come across as insincere or forced to wear the scarlet letter of sellout.
—Paul Fitzgerald, Rolling Stone, 5 Mar. 2024
Impeachment will still be a useful constitutional tool because of the scarlet letter that presidents perceive in being impeached, Mr. Gerhardt said, citing Mr. Clinton and Mr. Trump.
—Peter Baker, New York Times, 1 Feb. 2024
In darker days, the 27-year-old host of Brooke and Connor Make a Podcast wore her identity as a fan-fiction enthusiast like a scarlet letter.
—Bella Arnold, Vulture, 25 Jan. 2024
Was the woman who had been branded with a scarlet letter as scary as they’d been led to believe?
—Helena Andrews-Dyer, Washington Post, 27 Oct. 2023
Anything lower than an A can be akin to a scarlet letter for a restaurant.
—Cindy Carcamo, Los Angeles Times, 5 Sep. 2023
But when someone leaves, the community labels them an 'apostate' – the scarlet letter of the FLDS.
—Lauren Lantry, ABC News, 22 June 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'scarlet letter.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
from such a letter in the novel The Scarlet Letter (1850) by Nathaniel Hawthorne
First Known Use
1850, in the meaning defined above
Articles Related to scarlet letter
Dictionary Entries Near scarlet letter
Cite this Entry
“Scarlet letter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scarlet%20letter. Accessed 10 Jun. 2024.
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