expletive
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See also: explétive
English
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”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
expletive (comparative more expletive, superlative most expletive)
- Serving to fill up, merely for effect, otherwise redundant.
- Synonym: expletory
- 1839, Henry Hallam, Introduction to the Literature of Europe, volume 3, London: John Murray, →OCLC, page 501:
- No one entered more fully than Shakespeare into the character of this species of poetry, which admits of no expletive imagery, no merely ornamental line.
- 1683, Isaac Barrow, The Works of the Learned Isaac Barrow, London: M. Flesher for B. Aylmer, →OCLC, Against vain and raſh Swearing:
- deprecating being taken for ſerious, or to be underſtood that he meaneth any thing by them; but only that he uſeth them as expletive phraſes ... to plump his ſpeech, and fill up ſentences.
- Marked by expletives (phrase-fillers).
Translations
serving to fill up
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Noun
| Examples (syntactic filler) |
|---|
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It is snowing. |
| Examples (strengthener) |
|---|
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I'll give you a bloody good hiding |
expletive (plural expletives)
- A profane, vulgar term, notably a curse or obscene oath.
- Synonyms: swear word, oath
- If we don't take advantage of any [expletive] in any way, then it's our loss.
- (linguistics) A word without meaning added to fill a syntactic position.
- (linguistics) A word that adds to the strength of a phrase without affecting its meaning.
- Synonym: intensifier
Derived terms
Translations
profane, vulgar term — see swear word
word added to fill a syntactic position
word that adds strength to a phrase
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
