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

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 expletive But the animosity between these rivals was also seen in a separate video where veteran Bucs wide receiver Sterling Shepard was shouting expletives toward the Panthers’ locker room immediately after Franklin’s outburst. Scott Thompson, Fox News, 2 Dec. 2024 Sound quality is exceptional, and the microphone won't miss a single expletive in your heated gaming moments. K. Thor Jensen, PCMAG, 2 Dec. 2024 Buttigieg quickly hit back at Trump, who used an expletive to describe his stewardship of the Department of Transportation. Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 30 Jan. 2025 Speaking after Grisham, police watcher Carolina Rodriguez said a number of expletives and was also removed. Cody Copeland, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 28 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for expletive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for expletive
Noun
  • Then, Democrats have to be thinking about what happens if Republicans only have a mild case of the midterm curse.
    Chris Stirewalt, The Hill, 14 Mar. 2025
  • Flubber can do anything, which is both a blessing and a curse for Professor Brainard.
    Kara Nesvig, Parents, 12 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • 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
  • The station asked the band not to include the swears.
    Kris Holt, Forbes, 2 Dec. 2024
Noun
  • Owned by the American toy company Hasbro, Monopoly is licensed to 113 countries and printed in 46 languages around the globe.
    Ann Rutledge, Forbes, 17 Mar. 2025
  • The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
    Charlotte Phillipp, People.com, 16 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • The rules include abstaining from substances that are already forbidden by the LDS Church, practicing chastity, forgoing the use of profanity and following a dress code that prohibits men from wearing beards or goatees and requires skirts to be no shorter than knee-length.
    Ashley Hume, Fox News, 18 Mar. 2025
  • Candidates for the Summit Hill Elementary District 161 Board denounced a note featuring profanity and anti-Muslim sentiment as reprehensible rhetoric from a community member.
    Michelle Mullins, Chicago Tribune, 12 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • The reply of my friend and hunting companion was one of those quaint, rasping epithets which only a cowman can manage when everything has gone wrong.
    Frank C. Hibben, Outdoor Life, 27 Feb. 2025
  • There were reports of death threats, along with racial epithets, directed at him.
    Louisa Thomas, The New Yorker, 16 Feb. 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
  • 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

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Cite this Entry

“Expletive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/expletive. Accessed 25 Mar. 2025.

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