What does expletive mean?

Definitions for expletive
ˈɛk splɪ tɪvex·ple·tive

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word expletive.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. curse, curse word, expletive, oath, swearing, swearword, cussnoun

    profane or obscene expression usually of surprise or anger

    "expletives were deleted"

  2. expletivenoun

    a word or phrase conveying no independent meaning but added to fill out a sentence or metrical line

Wiktionary

  1. expletivenoun

    A word that adds to the strength of a phrase without affecting its meaning.

  2. expletivenoun

    A profane, vulgar term, notably a curse or obscene oath.

  3. expletivenoun

    A word without meaning added to fill a syntactic position.

  4. expletiveadjective

    Serving to fill up, merely for effect, otherwise redundant

  5. expletiveadjective

    Marked by expletives (phrase-fillers)

  6. Etymology: From expletivus, from expletus, the perfect passive participle of expleo, itself from ex + *.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Expletivenoun

    Something used only to take up room; something of which the use is only to prevent a vacancy.

    Etymology: expletivum, Latin.

    These are not only useful expletives to matter, but great ornaments of style. Jonathan Swift.

    Oft the ear the open vowels tire,
    While expletives their feeble aid do join. Alexander Pope, Ess. on Critic.

    Another nicety is in relation to expletives, whether words or syllables, which are made use of purely to supply a vacancy: do, before verbs plural, is absolutely such; and future refiners may explode did and does. Alexander Pope.

ChatGPT

  1. expletive

    An expletive is a word or phrase that typically serves as an interjection, often profane or obscene, and is used primarily for emphasis or to express strong emotion. In grammar, it can also refer to a word with little or no meaningful content, used to fill a specific syntactical role, such as "it" in the phrase "it is raining."

Webster Dictionary

  1. Expletiveadjective

    filling up; hence, added merely for the purpose of filling up; superfluous

  2. Expletivenoun

    a word, letter, or syllable not necessary to the sense, but inserted to fill a vacancy; an oath

  3. Etymology: [L. expletivus, from expletus, p. p. of explere to fill up; ex out+plere to fill, akin to plenus full: cf. F. expltif. See Full.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Expletive

    eks′ple-tiv, adj. filling out: added for ornament or merely to fill up.—n. a word or syllable inserted for ornament or to fill up a vacancy: an oath.—adj. Ex′pletory, serving to fill up: expletive. [L. expletivusex, out, plēre, to fill.]

Matched Categories

How to pronounce expletive?

How to say expletive in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of expletive in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of expletive in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of expletive in a Sentence

  1. Bryan Schmitt:

    I rolled down my window to ask why Manoucher Jahangard'd throw something at my car. Manoucher Jahangard yelled at me to'( expletive) ! It's none of your business !' when I attempted to pull into the driveway Manoucher Jahangard pushed a trash can at me. I swerved to right to miss it ended up hitting a second trash can. When I came to stop Manoucher Jahangard was lying on( the) other side of( the) first trash can.

  2. Ben Affleck:

    Years ago, I used to play fast and a little loose more on Twitter. These days, I'm a little bit more reserved, i said,' Well the difference is easy to spot. Ryan Gosling has blond hair and Ryan Reynolds is a [ expletive ].

  3. Diane Warren:

    Yeah, it would be great to win. It would be( expletive) awesome, i feel like a team that’s gone to the World Series for decades and decades, and never wins.

  4. Archie Bradley:

    So it’s a 2-2 count, and I’m like, ‘Man, I have to pee. I have to go pee.’ So I run in our bathroom real quick, I’m ready to go. I’m trying to pee and I actually [expletive] my pants. Like right before I’m about to go in the game, I pooped my pants, i’m like ‘Oh my gosh.’ I know I’m a pitch away from going in the game, so I’m scrambling to clean myself up. I get it cleaned up the best I can, button my pants up, and our bullpen coach Mike Fetters says, ‘Hey, you’re in the game.’ So I’m jogging into the game to pitch with poop in my pants essentially.

  5. George Zimmerman:

    Do you remember me, you fat mother (expletive)?

Popularity rank by frequency of use

expletive#10000#73942#100000

Translations for expletive

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

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"expletive." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 Jun 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/expletive>.

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