Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of curse word
First recorded in 1870–75
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.
Just one offensive or curse word can lead to a parental advisory label, so what’s defined as explicit can be subjective.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 3, 2023
Friends wonder whether they have ever heard Ryans use a curse word.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 21, 2023
I did not stop, once, to pencil a curse word of admiration in the margins, which sometimes means nothing but sometimes means a lot.
From New York Times ● Jul. 4, 2022
Raphael Bostic, president of the Atlanta Federal Reserve, joked Tuesday in separate remarks that “transitory” is now seen as the equivalent of a curse word at the Atlanta Fed.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 13, 2021
And if I didn’t know what a curse word meant, all I had to do was ask her and she would explain it to me—in detail.
From "Auggie & Me" by R. J. Palacio
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.
