Meaning & use
expletive
A swear word or profane exclamation used to express strong emotion, especially anger.
See it in a sentence
He muttered an expletive under his breath after stubbing his toe on the table.
The news report bleeped out the expletive during the athlete's postgame interview.
A note on using this word
In grammar, expletive also names a filler word like it or there that fills a sentence position without adding meaning.
Words with a similar meaning
swear wordcurse
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “expletive”, then compare your use with the examples above.
Your draft stays on this page and is not sent anywhere.