| 1. | Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I se. - from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman |
| 2. | "You went to the opera while Sibyl Vane was lying dead in some sordid lodgin. - from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde |
| 3. | I thought he was joking, for the view was sordid enough, but he soon explained himself. - from Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle |
| 4. | The narrow passage led us into a quadrangle paved with flags and lined by sordid dwellings. - from A Study In Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle |
| 5. | I could not bear to return to the sordid village, where, besides, no prospect of aid was visible. - from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte |
| 6. | "All your other hopes have merged into the hope of being beyond the chance of its sordid reproach. - from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens |
| 7. | Powerful angels, safe in heaven they smile when sordid souls triumph, and feeble ones weep over their destruction. - from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte |
| 8. | Amidst this sordid scene, sat a man with his clenched hands resting on his knees, and his eyes bent on the ground. - from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte |
| 9. | They wondered how one so charming and graceful as he was could have escaped the stain of an age that was at once sordid and sensual. - from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde |