- 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
“It’s a natural progression going from hockey to being a pastor because in hockey there’s a lot of cussing and fighting and it seems to be the same as a pastor,” he joked.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 5, 2020
“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
His brother Dwight was always surrounded by cussing, punching, ball-tossing, fist-bumping boys, but Howard never joined them.
From "Wish" by Barbara O'Connor
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.
