expletive
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
A profane, vulgar term, notably a curse or obscene oath.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ehkspluhtivSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɛksplətɪv
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A profane, vulgar term, notably a curse or obscene oath.
An obscene or otherwise offensive interjection (such as shit, fuck, or damn it).
linguistics
A word that adds to the strength of a phrase without affecting its meaning (such as fuckin in "there's no fuckin way he's gonna get away with it").
adjective
Serving to fill up, merely for effect, otherwise redundant.
Marked by expletives (phrase-fillers).
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A profane, vulgar term, notably a curse or obscene oath.
Used this way, expletive is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use expletive
- “Expletives were deleted.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
A curse, a curse word.
A word that is a vulgarity.
A vulgar epithet.
Profane or obscene expression usually of surprise or anger.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.