adj
Meaning 1
Serving to fill up, merely for effect, otherwise redundant.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: expletory
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
expletive
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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UK: /ɪkˈspliːtɪv/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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US: /ˈɛksplətɪv/
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CMU ARPABET: EH1 K S P L AH0 T IH0 V Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adj
Meaning 2
Marked by expletives (phrase-fillers).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A profane, vulgar term, notably a curse or obscene oath.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- If we don't take advantage of any [expletive] in any way, then it's our loss.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: swear word, bad word, oath
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
A word without meaning added to fill a syntactic position.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
A word that adds to the strength of a phrase without affecting its meaning (such as fuckin in "there's no fuckin way he's gonna get away with it").
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: intensifier
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
An obscene or otherwise offensive interjection (such as shit, fuck, or damn it).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: interjection
noun
Meaning 7
profane or obscene expression usually of surprise or anger
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- expletives were deleted
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: curse, curse word, oath, swearing, swearword, cuss
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: profanity
noun
Meaning 8
a word or phrase conveying no independent meaning but added to fill out a sentence or metrical line
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: utterance, vocalization
History
Etymology
From Late Latin explētīvus (“serving to fill out”), from Latin explētus, the perfect passive participle of expleō (“fill out”), itself from ex (“out, completely”) + *pleō (“fill”).
Across languages
Translations
33 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: вмъкнат (vmǎknat) — serving to fill up
- Catalan: expletiu — serving to fill up
- Czech: vyplňující — serving to fill up
- Dutch: opvullend — serving to fill up
- Finnish: täyte- — serving to fill up
- Finnish: täyttävä — serving to fill up
- Finnish: lisä- — serving to fill up
- French: explétif — serving to fill up
- German: Füllwort — serving to fill up
- Italian: pleonastico — serving to fill up
- Italian: riempitivo — serving to fill up
- Portuguese: expletivo — serving to fill up
- Spanish: expletivo — serving to fill up
- Dutch: expletief — marked by phrase-fillers
- Dutch: vol krachttermen — marked by phrase-fillers
- Italian: espletivo — marked by phrase-fillers
- Bulgarian: вмъкната дума (vmǎknata duma) — word added to fill a syntactic position
- Czech: slovní vata — word added to fill a syntactic position
- Czech: vycpávkové slovo — word added to fill a syntactic position
- Czech: vycpávka — word added to fill a syntactic position
- Czech: slovní výplň — word added to fill a syntactic position
- Dutch: vulsel — word added to fill a syntactic position
- Dutch: opvulling — word added to fill a syntactic position
- Finnish: täytesana — word added to fill a syntactic position
- German: Expletivum — word added to fill a syntactic position
- German: Expletiv — word added to fill a syntactic position
- Portuguese: expletivo — word added to fill a syntactic position
- Portuguese: expletiva — word added to fill a syntactic position
- Spanish: expletivo — word added to fill a syntactic position
- Dutch: expletief (woord) — word that adds strength to a phrase
- Finnish: voimasana — word that adds strength to a phrase
- Spanish: expletivo — word that adds strength to a phrase
- Swedish: kraftuttryck — word that adds strength to a phrase
Real reading context