as in curse
a disrespectful or indecent word or expression was reprimanded for teaching his little brother cusswords

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of cussword This wasn't an in-the-moment cussword thrown down in the middle of a passionate, blow out fight. Ashley Iaconetti, Cosmopolitan, 30 Aug. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cussword
Noun
  • Rumors of a Satanic curse on the event skittered around the Haight, so early on the morning of the 14th, Ginsberg, Snyder, and Alan Watts conducted a pradakshina, a Buddhist purification rite.
    Dennis McNally, Rolling Stone, 7 Aug. 2025
  • As those points attest, emotional wording can be a blessing and a curse.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 1 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
    Charna Flam, People.com, 8 Aug. 2025
  • The possibilities which animate my stories live right there in the language of seventeenth-century laws.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 7 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • Bonus: For every 100ml bottle sold, Omorovicza donates 5% to Water.org, supporting global access to safe water. Jones Road Miracle Balm, $40 Women over 50 swear by this award-winning, Bobbi Brown-founded brand for its nourishing and hydrating qualities.
    Kristen Philipkoski, Forbes.com, 29 May 2025
  • The word was forbidden in their household and treated like a swear.
    Ariana Yaptangco, Glamour, 22 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • 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
  • 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
Noun
  • An angry Schottenheimer stopped the team drill portion, got everyone huddled up in the middle of the field and ripped into the group with several expletives.
    Jon Machota, New York Times, 26 July 2025
  • Stewart had harsh words for CBS and Paramount, using several expletives to punctuate his sentiments.
    Liam Reilly, CNN Money, 22 July 2025
Noun
  • In 2015, she was suspended from her role as a Fox News contributor for two weeks after using profanity in an on-air criticism of Obama.
    Nicole Briese, People.com, 19 July 2025
  • Others bore creative and bilingual profanities directed at Trump, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, who oversees most of the country’s public acreage, and Sen. Mike Lee, the Republican from Utah, who on June 11 had proposed a large-scale selloff of public lands.
    Abe Streep, ProPublica, 8 July 2025
Noun
  • As the Oxford English Dictionary notes, the expression not hardly is considered a vulgarism.
    NR Editors, National Review, 16 Apr. 2020
  • The British cringed over new American accents, coinages and vulgarisms.
    Time, Time, 11 June 2019
Noun
  • Tackett shouted racial epithets against Latinos at the driver before hurling a cup of hot coffee into their car, splashing the victim’s face, hands and the inside of his car, Oldoerp said.
    City News Service, Oc Register, 25 July 2025
  • The two welders who had been spewing racist epithets at Pierre, the lawsuit said, began retaliating.
    Miami Herald, Miami Herald, 7 July 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Cussword.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cussword. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.

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