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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Examples of expletive in a Sentence
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Recent Examples on the Web
Advertisement From the Marlins dugout, however, manager Skip Schumaker kept his arms crossed and rendered his decision to his bench with an expletive.
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Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 20 Sep. 2024
While accepting his award for outstanding actor in a comedy series for The Bear, the actor, 33, was censored for seemingly using an expletive on stage.
—Esther Kang, Peoplemag, 16 Sep. 2024
Romero declined legal representation and left the hearing saying an expletive.
—Andrea May Sahouri, Detroit Free Press, 11 Sep. 2024
According to the show, the owners yelled expletives at and pushed customers, took the tips left for the servers and refused to take criticism from Ramsay.
—Bahar Anooshahr, The Arizona Republic, 13 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for expletive 
Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 20 Sep. 2024
While accepting his award for outstanding actor in a comedy series for The Bear, the actor, 33, was censored for seemingly using an expletive on stage.
—Esther Kang, Peoplemag, 16 Sep. 2024
Romero declined legal representation and left the hearing saying an expletive.
—Andrea May Sahouri, Detroit Free Press, 11 Sep. 2024
According to the show, the owners yelled expletives at and pushed customers, took the tips left for the servers and refused to take criticism from Ramsay.
—Bahar Anooshahr, The Arizona Republic, 13 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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The organization abandoned its name of over eight decades, the Red Skins, which many Native Americans viewed as a racist epithet.Greg McKenna, Fortune, 17 Oct. 2024
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If the flipping of this script began with Walz’s epithet, the convention is completing the turnover.Gal Beckerman, The Atlantic, 22 Aug. 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 17 Nov. 2024.
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