expletive
UK /ɪkˈspliːtɪv/ · US /ˈɛksplətɪv/ adjective, noun
Forms expletives
- adjective Serving to fill up, merely for effect, otherwise redundant.
- adjective Marked by expletives (phrase-fillers).
- noun A profane, vulgar term, notably a curse or obscene oath. “If we don't take advantage of any [expletive] in any way, then it's our loss.”
- noun (linguistics) A word without meaning added to fill a syntactic position.
- noun (linguistics) A word that adds to the strength of a phrase without affecting its meaning (such as fucking in "there's no fucking way he's gonna get away with it").
- noun An obscene or otherwise offensive interjection (such as shit, fuck, or damn it).
Synonyms
expletory swear word bad word oath intensifier curse curse word swearing swearword cuss
Etymology
From Late Latin explētīvus (“serving to fill out”), from Latin explētus, the perfect passive participle of expleō (“fill out”), itself from ex (“out, completely”) + *pleō (“fill”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Filling up; hence, added merely for the purpose of filling up; superfluous. "Expletive imagery." Hallam.
- noun A word, letter, or syllable not necessary to the sense, but inserted to fill a vacancy; an oath.
Etymology [L. expletivus, from expletus, p.p. of explere to fill up; ex out+plere to fill, akin to plenus full: cf. F. explétif. See Full.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “expletive”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details