swear
Americanverb (used without object)
-
swears,
present (3rd person singular)
-
swore,
past
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sware,
past (Archaic)
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sworn,
past participle
-
swearing
present participle
-
to make a solemn declaration or affirmation by some sacred being or object, as a deity or the Bible.
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to bind oneself by oath.
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to give evidence or make a statement on oath.
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to use profane oaths or language.
Don't swear in front of the children.
- Synonyms:
- imprecate
verb (used with object)
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swears,
present (3rd person singular)
-
swore,
past
-
sware,
past (Archaic)
-
sworn,
past participle
-
swearing
present participle
-
to declare, affirm, attest, etc., by swearing by a deity, some sacred object, etc.
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to affirm, assert, or say with solemn earnestness.
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to promise or undertake on oath or in a solemn manner; vow.
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to testify or state on oath.
He swore it on the witness stand.
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to take (an oath), as in order to give solemnity or force to a declaration, promise, etc.
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to bind by an oath.
to swear someone to secrecy.
noun
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swears
plural
verb phrase
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swear by
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to name (a sacred being or thing) as one's witness or guarantee in swearing.
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Informal. to have great confidence in; rely on.
He swears by his dentist.
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to have certain knowledge of.
I thought I saw him leaving, but I couldn't swear by it.
-
-
swear off to promise or resolve to give up something.
I've decided to swear off the internet one day a week.
Have you sworn off red meat?
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swear in to admit to office or service by administering an oath.
A new president will be sworn in today.
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swear out to secure (a warrant for arrest) by making an accusation under oath.
verb
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to declare or affirm (a statement) as true, esp by invoking a deity, etc, as witness
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(foll by by)
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to invoke (a deity, etc) by name as a witness or guarantee to an oath
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to trust implicitly; have complete confidence (in)
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to curse, blaspheme, or use swearwords
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(when tr, may take a clause as object or an infinitive) to promise solemnly on oath; vow
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(tr) to assert or affirm with great emphasis or earnestness
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(intr) to give evidence or make any statement or solemn declaration on oath
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to take an oath in order to add force or solemnity to (a statement or declaration)
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informal to assert emphatically
noun
Synonym Usage
See curse.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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swearsimple
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swearssimple
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have swornperfect
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has swornperfect
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am swearingprogressive
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are swearingprogressive
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is swearingprogressive
-
have been swearingperfect progressive
-
has been swearingperfect progressive
Past
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swaresimple
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sworesimple
-
had swornperfect
-
was swearingprogressive
-
were swearingprogressive
-
had been swearingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of swear
First recorded before 900; Middle English sweren, Old English swerian; cognate with German schwören, Old Norse sverja; akin to Gothic swaran “to swear”; see answer
Explanation
When you take an oath about something, you swear to it, affirming its truth. Ironically, if you utter an oath, such as a curse word or obscenity, you also swear. Do you swear to put a quarter in this jar for every time you swear? The two separate meanings of swear come from branches of the same etymological tree. Both meanings have ties to Old Norse sverja, but sometime in the Middle English, the word became on one hand sweren with the meaning "to promise," while another version, swerian, became "to curse." Both might come from the idea of an oath being connected to a deity, but while one referred to truth, the other went to the dark side, negatively invoking a sacred name.
Vocabulary lists containing swear
The Presidential Oath of Office Vocabulary
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"My Brother's Keeper" and "What Price Loyalty?"
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Homesick
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Maybe I’m loopy, but I’d even swear the entrance to Billy’s screening room has a handmade mural of the Roku City screensaver.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
To start things off, here are three personal-finance principles that I’ve come to swear by through my own wins and losses.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026
Walker added Cricket was well-known for "keeping his act clean" in a time where some of the clubs would not have allowed any type of crude language or swear words.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
"I swear ... that I will faithfully carry out the duties of president of the republic," Peru's ninth president in a decade stated before Congress.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
“Yep. Second one in two weeks. I swear, demons can’t stay away from that place.”
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
Viking, the world’s largest river cruise operator with more than 90 river ships and priority access to over 100 docking locations, swears it’s staying the course.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
He swears to USA Today that he tries to “make wise decisions and moral decisions.”
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026
“The idea that no gentleman ever swears is all wrong,” Mark Twain said in a speech on taxes and morals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026
He's also invested in an AI-powered electrical bed cover that cools down or heats up based on your body temperature, that he swears by for improving sleep.
From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2026
Politely, Powell holds up the medicine vial and swears that Dr. Verdi told him to deliver it to William Seward and William Seward only.
From "Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever" by Bill O'Reilly
And they waxed wroth against the High Priestess and said, Didst thou not sware, even unto seven times, that thou wouldst not call a snap election?
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 9, 2017
David sware to Saul, and the two parted in peace.
From The Expositor's Bible: The First Book of Samuel by Blaikie, William Garden
Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
From The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Genesis by Dods, Marcus
A fly, the dear, little, social innocent, kant make me sware, not even an abreviated dam.
From The Complete Works of Josh Billings by Shaw, Henry W.
She meant, "Unto whom I sware in my wrath," and the rest.
From Charles Auchester, Volume 1 of 2 by Sheppard, Elizabeth
“I signed, I swore allegiance, and it was all over.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
News of the fire reached musician Linda Ronstadt, who swore that Dan Tana’s served the best plate of spaghetti in the world.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
Platner, in damage-control mode, acknowledged that he was occasionally a lousy boyfriend but denied any sort of physical abuse, swore that he has cleaned up his act, and pledged that no more skeletons will emerge.
From Slate ● Jun. 6, 2026
The 23 senators present donned maroon velvet robes Monday and swore to "do impartial justice according to the constitution and the laws of the Philippines" at the trial.
From Barron's ● May 18, 2026
Wanda kept her eyes on the cops by the entrance to the administration building, and he swore that he could feel the rage pumping through her.
From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro
“That conduct will never be tolerated among the ranks of those sworn to protect and serve.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
After Trujillo finished testifying, prosecutors played a video of his earlier sworn statement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Keiko Fujimori was sworn in as Peru's ninth president in a decade at an official ceremony in Lima on Tuesday, AFP journalists observed.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
The good news is that on Friday a new Congress was also sworn in and this one is bicameral.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
“When I picked her up, I could have sworn her bones were hollow.”
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
The business, based in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, was known by many pubgoers for its eccentric rules including banning mobile phones, music, televisions and swearing at their sites.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
For this and other reasons, Kevin Warsh, at his swearing in as the new Fed chairman External link last month, singled out Greenspan among his predecessors for praise in delivering prosperity without inflation.
From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026
He whined that the singers who pulled out of the state fair are “Third Rate” and promised he would simply headline the event, swearing he is greater than Elvis, even “without a guitar.”
From Salon ● Jun. 3, 2026
Donald Trump urged the incoming Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh to be "totally independent" at a White House swearing in ceremony on Friday.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
He looked around, swearing he had just felt the weight of a paw there.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
