as in curse
a disrespectful or indecent word or expression
unleashed a slew of expletives upon losing the tennis match
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of expletive
Davidson’s expletives have dominated what should have been a terrific night for Studiocanal’s I Swear, which pulled a surprise in the shape of Robert Aramayo winning best actor over the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Timothée Chalamet.
—
Zac Ntim, Deadline, 24 Feb. 2026
Alan Cumming briefly paused Sunday's BAFTA Film Awards on two separate occasions to address the expletives and racial slur that Tourette's syndrome advocate John Davidson yelled during the telecast, according to reports.
—Pamela Avila, USA Today, 23 Feb. 2026
After a wild few days with expletives and a brief rule change, tensions simmered and teams and players more or less moved on.
—Sallee Ann Harrison, Chicago Tribune, 23 Feb. 2026
The students chanted the expletive for a few minutes as more made their way to Euless City Hall from Trinity High.
—Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 20 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for expletive
Zac Ntim, Deadline, 24 Feb. 2026
Alan Cumming briefly paused Sunday's BAFTA Film Awards on two separate occasions to address the expletives and racial slur that Tourette's syndrome advocate John Davidson yelled during the telecast, according to reports.
—Pamela Avila, USA Today, 23 Feb. 2026
After a wild few days with expletives and a brief rule change, tensions simmered and teams and players more or less moved on.
—Sallee Ann Harrison, Chicago Tribune, 23 Feb. 2026
The students chanted the expletive for a few minutes as more made their way to Euless City Hall from Trinity High.
—Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 20 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for expletive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for expletive
Noun
-
The rise of the gig economy and remote work has finally broken the cubicle curse, giving us the freedom to answer emails from a mountain cabin or run a startup from a beachside bistro.—
Juhi Wadia,
PC Magazine,
6 Mar. 2026
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Pay multiple people from the crafts site Etsy to perform tarot readings, lift any existing curses and otherwise engage in witchcraft.—
Tyler Estep,
AJC.com,
4 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Kennedy could be heard hurling swears at the Swedish team.—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
23 Feb. 2026
-
And Boring would be that much closer to its 90,000-rider pinkie-swear.—
Pat Beall,
Sun Sentinel,
20 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Still, for distributors and exhibitors in the United States, bringing foreign-language films to theaters sometimes seems like an act of philanthropy, while French sales agent grumble about the low sales prices.—
Elsa Keslassy,
Variety,
9 Mar. 2026
-
Foreign language films, documentaries, cross pollination with their music artists, and more producing are all on the table.—
Andreas Wiseman,
Deadline,
9 Mar. 2026
Noun
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When the motion passed, residents stormed out of the room en masse, some yelling profanity and pledging to vote coucilmembers out of office.—
Ilana Arougheti,
Kansas City Star,
3 Mar. 2026
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Even though a minority of people with Tourette syndrome experience coprolalia, media portrayals of Tourette’s disproportionately focus on outbursts of profanity.—
Rena Zito,
Fortune,
26 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
The epithet could be heard when the BBC broadcast the ceremony about two hours after the live event.—
Dallas Morning News,
Dallas Morning News,
23 Feb. 2026
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There is no stronger epithet in Albany than the charge of being weak.—
Paul Francis,
New York Daily News,
22 Feb. 2026
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
-
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 12 Mar. 2026.
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