expletive
noun
[ ɪkˈspliːtɪv ]
• an oath or swear word.
• "he was greeted by a stream of expletives"
Similar:
swear word,
oath,
curse,
obscenity,
profanity,
epithet,
imprecation,
four-letter word,
exclamation,
bad language,
foul language,
strong language,
swearing,
dirty word,
cuss word,
cuss,
• a word or phrase used to fill out a sentence or a line of verse without adding to the sense.
Similar:
filler,
fill-in,
stopgap,
meaningless word/phrase,
redundant word/phrase,
superfluous word/phrase,
unnecessary word/phrase,
expletive
adjective
• (of a word or phrase) serving to fill out a sentence or line of verse.
Origin:
late Middle English (as an adjective): from late Latin expletivus, from explere ‘fill out’, from ex- ‘out’ + plere ‘fill’. The noun sense ‘word used merely to fill out a sentence’ (early 17th century) was applied specifically to a swear word in the early 19th century.
