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
His partner, Shane Lowry, was also spewing expletives back at fans commenting on his weight, while standing up for McIlroy, one of his best friends, as well.
—
Scott Thompson, FOXNews.com, 3 Oct. 2025
The difference between an explicit and clean version of a song is that the former contains expletives or vulgarities, while the latter does not.
—Melina Khan, USA Today, 3 Oct. 2025
The tensions rose enough that McIlroy and playing partner Shane Lowry eventually returned the expletives right back.
—Brody Miller, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
Actress and comedian Heather McMahan, who hosted the first tee at Bethpage Black Golf Course on Long Island, New York, was heard on videos posted to social media chanting expletives against golfer Rory McIlroy.
—Chandelis Duster, NPR, 28 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for expletive
Scott Thompson, FOXNews.com, 3 Oct. 2025
The difference between an explicit and clean version of a song is that the former contains expletives or vulgarities, while the latter does not.
—Melina Khan, USA Today, 3 Oct. 2025
The tensions rose enough that McIlroy and playing partner Shane Lowry eventually returned the expletives right back.
—Brody Miller, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
Actress and comedian Heather McMahan, who hosted the first tee at Bethpage Black Golf Course on Long Island, New York, was heard on videos posted to social media chanting expletives against golfer Rory McIlroy.
—Chandelis Duster, NPR, 28 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for expletive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for expletive
Noun
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Her goal helped the club secure its first berth in the NWSL playoffs, snapping a ninth-place curse that had haunted the team since its debut in 2021.—
Tamerra Griffin,
New York Times,
3 Nov. 2025
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So begins a rollicking tale of superstition, a family curse and second chances.—
Carly Tagen-Dye,
PEOPLE,
2 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Visitors of years past swear by their trick-or-treating hauls from these affluent neighborhoods, specifically the homes of Marissa Meyer (Professorville), Mark Zuckerberg (Crescent Park) and Larry Page and Laurene Powell Jobs (Old Palo Alto).—
John Metcalfe,
Mercury News,
21 Oct. 2025
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Does Taylor Swift swear on 'The Life of a Showgirl'?—
Melina Khan,
USA Today,
3 Oct. 2025
Noun
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In a similar vein, Timnit Gebru, a computer scientist writing during her time working at Google, warned of the dangers of large language models acting as stochastic parrots, which repeat language patterns without understanding, and in doing so replicate the biases embedded in their training data.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Nov. 2025
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The dust-up stems back to the Spanish singer’s recent appearance on the New York Times’ Popcast, where she was asked about singing in about 13 different languages one her new album Lux and the challenges of communicating with a global audience.—
Jon Blistein,
Rolling Stone,
5 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Hosts like Kristen Stewart, Sam Rockwell and Ariana Grande have all dropped uncensored profanity during their monologues or sketches.—
William Earl,
Variety,
19 Oct. 2025
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Insults and profanity were heard in a fan’s video of the exchange.—
Tom Krasovic,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
13 Oct. 2025
Noun
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In fact, the term itself was an epithet throughout the founding era, a way to describe ignorant and easily deceived popular majorities, perpetually vulnerable to demagogues.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Oct. 2025
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According to research from Copyleaks, an AI analysis firm that helps businesses and institutions navigate the shifting landscape of this emergent technology, a new trend has produced Sora videos of celebrities appearing to spew hateful racist epithets.—
Miles Klee,
Rolling Stone,
23 Oct. 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 7 Nov. 2025.
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