ruling passion
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.
Nostalgia maintains its grip on the imagination and dominates as the ruling passion, he says, after greed, anger and resistance to authority.
From New York Times • Sep. 16, 2016
One article written after Heenan left America tut-tutted that his "ruling passion is the love of money" rather than love of country.
From Slate • May 5, 2010
Ignatius' ruling passion is his utter contempt for the modern age; its manifestations make his pyloric valve close, trapping gas in his cavernous stomach.
From Time Magazine Archive
It is this: the business of education is not to gather facts but to find a ruling passion, something around which you can organize your life.
From Time Magazine Archive
A love of hunting became his ruling passion, and he would wander, for whole days alone, through the woods, seeming to take great delight in these rambles, even if he found no game.
From Curiosities of Human Nature by Anonymous
