How to Use sacred cow in a Sentence

sacred cow

noun
  • The old government program has become a sacred cow.
  • It’s all served on a sizzling hot platter in the shape of Nandi, a Hindu sacred cow.
    Peter Rubin, Longreads, 29 Apr. 2022
  • In true comedy club fashion, no sacred cows were spared by those who took the mic.
    Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 10 Mar. 2023
  • Check out our video above on the sacred cows, which uses real cows to illustrate key parts of the GOP plan.
    Richard Rubin, WSJ, 4 Oct. 2017
  • Also, braving the ire of lobbyists, the authors of the bill also kill some sacred cows.
    Derek Thompson, The Atlantic, 3 Nov. 2017
  • There is no more sacred cow in our current politics than Mueller.
    Chris Cillizza, CNN, 18 Mar. 2018
  • But the only sacred cow was its market-leading position in the United States.
    Aaron Pressman, Fortune, 12 Mar. 2018
  • Nothing was too precious for Hadad’s biting wit — not even the sacred cows of Mexican culture.
    Carolina A. Miranda, latimes.com, 19 Jan. 2018
  • But before a viewer even has time to think about that question, the filmmaker is in pursuit of another sacred cow.
    Mary Carole McCauley, Baltimore Sun, 7 Apr. 2022
  • As a product of the sacred cow, ghee’s also a crucial component in sacrifice.
    Rachel Khong, Bon Appetit, 14 Feb. 2017
  • Before The Doppelgänger is over, no sacred cow is left unslaughtered.
    Jack Helbig, Chicago Reader, 18 Apr. 2018
  • Red lines were crossed, sacred cows slaughtered, rules bent beyond recognition.
    The Economist, 14 Dec. 2017
  • Any conglomerate could benefit from having a CEO for whom there are no sacred cows.
    Washington Post, 18 Sep. 2019
  • Everything’s on the table, with no preconceptions and no sacred cows.
    Thomas Gryta, WSJ, 26 June 2018
  • In fact, his penchant for pricking sacred cows was matched only by his fondness for distinctive clothing.
    James R. Hagerty, WSJ, 15 May 2018
  • Humor is super important to try and open up dialogue, and sacred cows are always the funniest.
    Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 25 May 2018
  • Without a doubt, even a temporary halt to MAX production makes this sacred cow all the more expensive to deliver to shareholders.
    Erik Sherman, Fortune, 18 Dec. 2019
  • Boxes and packing materials, almost a sacred cow, were removed from stores in 2017.
    Maria Halkias, Dallas News, 24 Dec. 2020
  • While Black Lips have never been an overtly political band, Black Keys' reflexive impulse has always been to mess with genres, poke at sacred cows and flirt with taboos.
    John Norris, Billboard, 9 Oct. 2017
  • The biggest sacred cow in Republican politics these days is Donald Trump.
    Chris Cillizza, CNN, 30 Sep. 2021
  • Some readers are by now gasping at the hypocrisy of their hippy punching, sacred cow busting blogger, he who lambasts the nature-worhshipping, organic-loving, GMO-fearing denizens of the world.
    Keith Kloor, Discover Magazine, 25 Apr. 2013
  • Police unions are no longer a political sacred cow, not even for Republicans.
    Shikha Dalmia, TheWeek, 2 July 2020
  • For obvious reasons, when discussing global warming, the media never mentions the sacred cow of animal and dairy production that account for more than half the greenhouse gas emissions in the world.
    Los Angeles Times, 15 Apr. 2022
  • Filling the nation’s courts with conservative justices is a unifying principle for the Republican Party and appears to be the one sacred cow that even Trump won’t slaughter.
    Matt Ford, The New Republic, 10 July 2018
  • Hopefully, future installments will learn the lessons of The Last Jedi and start to reflect that by taking some risks, leaving this familiar storyline behind, killing some sacred cows, and trying something new.
    Chaim Gartenberg, The Verge, 27 Nov. 2018
  • The sacred cows of health care are no longer looking so sacred, and the right health care companies and venture investors will recognize this opportunity and maximize their ability to do well by doing good.
    Eric M. Stone, STAT, 5 June 2020
  • Tetris is a sacred cow in the games industry, and only a few major titles have succeeded at iterating on its design; Lumines, which remembers the pleasure of humming the Tetris music and builds a whole game out of that joy, is probably the best.
    Julie Muncy, WIRED, 3 July 2018
  • In a series of speeches over the last few years, Shapiro has debunked sacred cows like safe spaces, micro-aggressions, and the quest for multiculturalism and diversity, and not without risks to his own personal safety.
    Fox News, 12 Apr. 2018
  • The free-wheeling text, credited to Culture Clash, never misses an opportunity to tweak the noses of the present administration, so those who might resent having their sacred cows burnt in effigy would be well advised to give this show a wide berth.
    F. Kathleen Foley, latimes.com, 9 Feb. 2018
  • But Zuckerberg’s comments during last month’s earnings call suggest Reality Labs—which only accounts for 18% of the company’s expenses this year through September—remains a sacred cow.
    Jacob Carpenter, Fortune, 7 Nov. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sacred cow.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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