swear

«swear» in Mova's school dictionary: to use rude or bad words — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (swear, swears, swore, sworn, swearing)

meaning for a pupil

1) To swear is to use rude or bad words. tree →

2) To swear is also to make a serious promise or say something is really true. tree →

3) To swear someone in is to make them promise to do a job honestly, like a judge or president. tree →

sense in the lessons

In school rules and manners lessons, swearing (bad language) is not allowed and can upset people. In law and history, people «swear an oath» in court to tell the truth, and leaders are «sworn in». In stories, characters «swear» loyalty or «swear revenge». Phrases: «swear words», «swear to tell the truth», «I swear», «sworn enemies».

examples

• Please don't swear in class. tree →
• He swore he had not eaten the last biscuit. tree →
• I swear I will help you tomorrow. tree →
• The witness swore to tell the truth. tree →
• The new mayor was sworn in today. tree →
• The knights swore to protect the king. tree →
• Some films have swear words in them. tree →
• The two cats are sworn enemies. tree →
• “I swear to you I did not do it!” tree →

note

Irregular verb: swear, swore, sworn (not «sweared»). «Swear words» and «swearing» mean rude language. «Swear» meaning promise is serious and formal. Do not confuse with «sweat» (to perspire).

In the corpora

• An "E" next to a song means explicit, usually swearing or adult themes; many songs have a clean version.
• Ratings look at much more than swearing: a frightening or violent scene can matter more than a rude word.
• Swearing has soft words too.
• "Darn" is a mild word used instead of the swear word "damn".
• When people stub a toe or drop a plate, a swear word wants to jump out.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «swear» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.