a place of evil, crime, or immorality
—According to my mother’s thinking, my move from the countryside to the big city was going from Eden to Sodom and Gomorrah.

In Canaan, Abraham and Lot, his nephew, decided to separate to give each more room for his livestock and possessions. Lot moved east, toward the city of Sodom, even though it was known as a wicked place. The Lord, accompanied by two angels, appeared to Abraham and told him that his wife, Sarah, would have a son, even though she was past the age to have children.

He also told Abraham about his plans to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness. When the angels visited Lot in Sodom, the men of the city surrounded his home and threatened Lot and his guests. In the end, the angels helped Lot and his wife and two daughters escape, as God destroyed the city with burning sulfur from the sky.

Sodomy is the name given to certain sexual acts by those who consider those acts unnatural or illegal.