as in curse
a disrespectful or indecent word or expression
unleashed a slew of expletives upon losing the tennis match
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Recent Examples of expletive
Some passersby clapped in favor of the group’s chants, while others hurled expletives.
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NBC News, 28 Sep. 2024
This was after Jack Flaherty struck out Machado the half-inning before and shouted expletives toward him on his way back to the dugout.
—Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2024
About 48 out of every 1,000 tweets from Virginians had expletives, like true Southerners.
—Sabrina Moreno, Axios, 16 Sep. 2024
After whispering an expletive under his breath, the agent put out another radio call, this time asking for medics.
—Alex Riggins, The Mercury News, 12 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for expletive 
NBC News, 28 Sep. 2024
This was after Jack Flaherty struck out Machado the half-inning before and shouted expletives toward him on his way back to the dugout.
—Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2024
About 48 out of every 1,000 tweets from Virginians had expletives, like true Southerners.
—Sabrina Moreno, Axios, 16 Sep. 2024
After whispering an expletive under his breath, the agent put out another radio call, this time asking for medics.
—Alex Riggins, The Mercury News, 12 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for expletive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for expletive
Noun
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Regardless of whether one sees it as a triumph or a curse, there is no reason to expect that low fertility will be reversed in any major way.Vegard Skirbekk, Foreign Affairs, 6 Nov. 2024
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Just one episode after breaking her family’s curse, Alice lies dead on the ground, and the witches—and especially Teen—are not happy.Erik Kain, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2024
Noun
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There’s a heavy focus on Asia’s first One&Only spa, featuring a green caviar body exfoliation and an Augustinus Bader facial celebs swear by.Katie Lockhart, Robb Report, 11 Oct. 2024
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Biggest takeaways from 'Hard Knocks' with Bears: An HBO show with no swears?Jim Reineking, USA TODAY, 6 Sep. 2024
Noun
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Yet research suggests that children up to age 5 can learn and process up to five languages.Letters To The Editor, The Mercury News, 9 Nov. 2024
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Luckily, just in time, Nick whispers the one word in the (British) English language that instantly turns back the clock.Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 8 Nov. 2024
Noun
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Over the past decade, Trump’s tenure in the political arena has stirred far more mayhem than a grandma’s profanities and arm-tugging.Julia Prodis Sulek, The Mercury News, 3 Nov. 2024
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Duterte’s profanities became a trademark of his political persona and some regarded him as Asia’s Trump.Jim Gomez, Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct. 2024
Noun
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Today, the term is more often used as a negative epithet—but on her wise and poignant R&B album Heaux Tales, Jazmine Sullivan celebrates gossip’s emotional significance, showing the revelations and self-explorations that arise when women nurture community.Pitchfork, Pitchfork, 1 Oct. 2024
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Risqué language and colorful ethnics epithets flowed as liberally as the liquor, drawing the ire of a nearby diner who, while not nearly as famous, was at least as wealthy and possibly more influential.Lizz Schumer, People.com, 29 Sep. 2024
Noun
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As the Oxford English Dictionary notes, the expression not hardly is considered a vulgarism.NR Editors, National Review, 16 Apr. 2020
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The British cringed over new American accents, coinages and vulgarisms.Time, Time, 11 June 2019
Noun
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And, when the alarm wails hours before dawn, human cusses of angry protest join the chorus of budget appliances failing before their time.Virginia Konchan, The New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2024
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My grandmother extended a ladder up into this tough old cuss of a tree and climbed up, at some risk, to pick the bulging fruit.Jim Meddleton, The Christian Science Monitor, 1 May 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Expletive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/expletive. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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