Sodom and Gomorrah
5
8.2
- noun
- /ˈsɒdəm ənd ɡəˈmɔːrə/
- Literature
:
Sodoma y Gomorra
- When they witnessed the corruption in the government, they called it a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah.
- the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
Examples
-
Her father had told her Nortex was a sinful town, like Sodom and Gomorrah, but Doris found she loved it.
Fiction book (1991) -
The Chicago gang is Sodom and Gomorrah rolled into one.
Blog text (29) -
We do not want America to be another Sodom and Gomorrah.
Blog text (25) -
"You're living right smack in Sodom and Gomorrah," Larry said.
Fiction book (2002) -
Genesis tells us that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were sinful (although no one knows what Gomorrah's sin was).
Academic text (2002) -
The abandoned factory became a Sodom and Gomorrah for crime in the neighborhood.
-
This chaotic party turned into a Sodom and Gomorrah filled with debauchery and excesses.
Synonyms
A place known for crime and bad behaviour
A state when people behave badly and chaos follows
Antonyms
How Wicked
Surface Forms
Morphology
Given knowledge of the constituents — both named as cities punished or destroyed for immorality — the combined phrase 'Sodom and Gomorrah' directly signals a place or situation of extreme vice; the conjunction simply links two exemplar cities. This biblical pairing is a conventionalized metaphor found in many languages, so a learner who knows the constituent meanings can readily infer the figurative sense.
Etymology
Sodom and Gomorrah comes from a Bible story about two cities that were destroyed by fire because of their great sins. Because of that powerful image, people now use the name to describe a place or situation of 'extreme wickedness'.