EXPLETIVE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Expletive

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/ˈɛksplətɪv/ Listen

Expletive

noun

Profane or obscene expression usually of surprise or anger. Synonyms: curse, curse word, cuss, oath, swearing, swearword.

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

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"Expletive" Quotes from Famous Books

... an expletive. The prospect of a night's search in the wet and wind and rain did not appeal to him. There seemed no help for it, however. "Much obliged," he said. "We'll watch for your men. Drive on, Mr. Malley." And they slipped forward ...

— The Grell Mystery • Frank Froest

... angrily, leaving him still standing in his pet attitude, taking mental stock of all the fast-looking fair ones who might come under his notice. "Oh, bother?" I am not prepared to assert positively that I did not use a much stronger expletive. He ought to have seen them! What the deuce was the use of his sticking star-gazing there, unless to observe people, I should like ...

— She and I, Volume 1 • John Conroy Hutcheson

... that the room was empty, then suddenly I heard another violent expletive and became aware of a man sitting close beside the iron stove. He turned to stare at us as we entered, but to my surprise it was not Theodore's ugly face which confronted us. The man sitting there alone in the room where I had expected to see Theodore ...

— Castles in the Air • Baroness Emmuska Orczy

... expletive Peter Ascott had been heard to use for long. "Ascott Leaf, is that you? I thought you were in ...

— Mistress and Maid • Dinah Craik (aka: Miss Mulock)

... Monica for a moment, but she remembered that it was an unmeaning expletive much used by people of Miss Eade's education. However, the story did not win her credence; by this time her disagreeable surmises had too ...

— The Odd Women • George Gissing

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