- present participle of cuss.
cussing
Americannoun
-
the act or practice of cursing or swearing.
Keep the cussing to a minimum, as there are kids around.
-
the act of criticizing or reprimanding someone in harsh language (usually followed byout ).
After three fouls, the player was pulled from the field and got a good cussing out from his coach.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of cussing
First recorded in 1830–40; cuss ( def. ) + -ing 1 ( def. ) for the noun senses; cuss ( def. ) + -ing 2 ( def. ) for the adjective sense
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.
Neither is he known for casually cussing in private.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 25, 2024
Is cussing a part of communication for Scientology believers, one officially sanctioned or dictated?
From Salon ● Apr. 29, 2022
“We must always be on guard against mediocre cussing in our writing,” the novelist Katherine Dunn wrote, in a small book called “On Cussing.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 16, 2019
Partly because so much of the audio was cut out for cussing, it wasn’t the best-sounding Grammy performance, but it was probably the most alive moment of the night.
From Slate ● Feb. 11, 2019
As I tiptoed up the rotting stairs, they creaked and groaned, cussing me for stepping on their aching backs.
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
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.
