as in curse
a disrespectful or indecent word or expression
unleashed a slew of expletives upon losing the tennis match
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of expletive
Mischer lost his temper and let out a string of expletives — which went out live on CNN.
—
Paul Grein, Billboard, 13 Apr. 2025
The toddler giggles as Johnson grabs the steering wheel to flee the offending bird, throwing in an expletive on his way out.
—Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA Today, 8 Apr. 2025
Caught off guard, NBC’s network censors let the expletive slip through on the broadcast for the East Coast but for later viewers removed the curse word from the show as well as from social media clips.
—Michelle Deal-Zimmerman, Baltimore Sun, 7 Apr. 2025
But even if computers are [unprintable expletives], their problems have often been encountered and fixed by some other poor soul.
—Nate Anderson, Ars Technica, 22 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for expletive
Paul Grein, Billboard, 13 Apr. 2025
The toddler giggles as Johnson grabs the steering wheel to flee the offending bird, throwing in an expletive on his way out.
—Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA Today, 8 Apr. 2025
Caught off guard, NBC’s network censors let the expletive slip through on the broadcast for the East Coast but for later viewers removed the curse word from the show as well as from social media clips.
—Michelle Deal-Zimmerman, Baltimore Sun, 7 Apr. 2025
But even if computers are [unprintable expletives], their problems have often been encountered and fixed by some other poor soul.
—Nate Anderson, Ars Technica, 22 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for expletive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for expletive
Noun
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After turning undead and hiding her bite wound, Mary easily gets permission to re-enter the building, and quickly seduces Stack, before murdering him and infecting him with the vampire curse.—
Dani Di Placido,
Forbes.com,
24 Apr. 2025
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Maybe that’s more blessing than curse in our age of baldly allegorical horror movies.—
A.A. Dowd,
Rolling Stone,
17 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Is this the kind of situation where mild swears seem generally used?—
Stacey Colino,
Time,
1 Apr. 2025
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Could a nice good swear on the pitch to express one’s anger stop a player from lashing out physically, channelling their anger through their vocal cords rather than their fists?—
Nick Miller,
The Athletic,
21 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Apart from any constitutional questions, there is also the problem that confessional language issued by the secretary of state in his official capacity distorts the message of Easter.—
Chloe Breyer,
New York Daily News,
21 Apr. 2025
-
Pope Francis preached the same gospel in different language.—
John Hope Bryant,
Time,
21 Apr. 2025
Noun
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The plotline’s matter-of-fact profanity at once punctured any sense of simplistic morality and underlined that world events always coexist with everyday indignities.—
Alison Herman,
Variety,
17 Apr. 2025
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The uncensored version was initially available on Peacock Sunday morning but was later replaced with an edited version that removed the profanity.—
Brendan Morrow,
USA Today,
7 Apr. 2025
Noun
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This species has no fragrance; its lavender appellation simply acknowledges its flower color while its rosemary epithet indicates its seacoast habitat.—
Joshua Siskin,
Orange County Register,
22 Mar. 2025
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More than a decade after Breaking Bad ended, Aaron Paul still can’t escape his character’s signature epithet.—
John Russell,
People.com,
19 Mar. 2025
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
Cite this Entry
“Expletive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/expletive. Accessed 3 May. 2025.
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