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
To be sure, protesters have often engaged in hostile behavior, hurling expletives, getting in agents’ faces and occasionally becoming violent.
—
A.c. Thompson, ProPublica, 14 Apr. 2026
The man pushed Littrell's phone away, and the two began filming each other and hurling expletives.
—Anna Kaufman, USA Today, 3 Apr. 2026
On some of her livestreams, she can be seen screaming expletives in the face of police officers.
—Brian Maass, CBS News, 1 Apr. 2026
Hurley's mother, Christine, was among them and in true Hurley family fashion let a few expletives fly after the last-second win.
—Andrew McCarty, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for expletive
A.c. Thompson, ProPublica, 14 Apr. 2026
The man pushed Littrell's phone away, and the two began filming each other and hurling expletives.
—Anna Kaufman, USA Today, 3 Apr. 2026
On some of her livestreams, she can be seen screaming expletives in the face of police officers.
—Brian Maass, CBS News, 1 Apr. 2026
Hurley's mother, Christine, was among them and in true Hurley family fashion let a few expletives fly after the last-second win.
—Andrew McCarty, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for expletive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for expletive
Noun
-
Curse or no curse, the @nyknicks have NO BUSINESS losing this series to the @ATLHawks — no matter how good that young team is.—
Ryan Gaydos,
FOXNews.com,
25 Apr. 2026
-
The home crowd in hockey can be a blessing and a curse.—
Steve Conroy,
Boston Herald,
22 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The event finds more than 20,000 people participating in an annual bar crawl throughout the city while dressed in their best holiday attire, tackiest Santa Claus costumes, and ugliest Christmas swears.—
Larisha Paul,
Rolling Stone,
15 Apr. 2026
-
Kennedy could be heard hurling swears at the Swedish team.—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
23 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Across collectors, cultural institutions and design circles, perfume bottles are increasingly being recognized not as packaging, but as artifacts — objects that preserve history, identity and the visual language of their time.—
Sudhir Gupta,
Rolling Stone,
27 Apr. 2026
-
The milquetoast nature of the statement — with its measured language and nonexistent call to action — and the broader absence of real accountability have nagged at me for weeks.—
Uzma Rentia,
STAT,
27 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Once inside the club, the affidavit alleges that Bell began arguing with other dancers, running around, throwing items, and using profanity.—
Angel Saunders,
PEOPLE,
29 Apr. 2026
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Just this insane profanity-laden tirade that went on and on and on.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
29 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The moral decay of Karensville might as well be Charlottesville and the epithet-spewing McLeoud behaves too much like myriad red-state lawmen for comfort.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
1 May 2026
-
But the singer has often said that his time in the group was an education in both music and prejudice, with audiences cheering on the band during performances, and then hurling punches and racial epithets after their shows.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
29 Apr. 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
-
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 2 May. 2026.
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