conscientious objector
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.
He declared himself a conscientious objector during World War II. He was imprisoned, abandoned by his family and returned to Birmingham only to be further ostracized.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 19, 2026
In 1985, as the Year of the Pacific approached, the ship’s captain was Peter Willcox, a lifelong seaman and conscientious objector from Vietnam who’d devoted his career to environmental action on the oceans.
From Slate • Jul. 22, 2025
Gumbleton said if he were a young man drafted into U.S. military service at that time he would go to jail or even leave the country if turned down as a conscientious objector.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 4, 2024
He writes that about 43,000 men were granted conscientious objector status once the draft law of 1940 brought conscription back to the U.S.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 8, 2022
During the Vietnam War, he was a conscientious objector, and there is still something of the ’60s hippie about him, like the Mao cap he sometimes wears over his braided yarmulke.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
