Swear

Definition: Swear

Swear

Verb

1. Utter obscenities or profanities; "The drunken men were cursing loudly in the street".

2. To declare or affirm as true: "Before God I swear I am innocent.".

3. Promise solemnly; take an oath.

4. Make a deposition; declare under oath.

5. Have confidence or faith in; "We can trust in God"; "Rely on your friends"; "bank on your good education"; "I swear by my grandmother's recipes".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "swear" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

Note: Swear \Swear\, intransitive verb [imperfect Swore, formerly Sware; past participle Sworn; Swearing.]. (references)

Literature

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Swear

Affirmation

Swear by; (believe); insist upon, take one's stand upon; emphasize, lay stress on; assert roundly, assert positively; lay down, lay down the law; raise one's voice, dogmatize, have the last word; rap out; repeat; reassert, reaffirm.

Depose, depone, aver, avow, avouch, asseverate, swear; make oath, take one's oath; make an affidavit, swear an affidavit, put in an affidavit; take one's Bible oath, kiss the book, vow, vitam impendere vero; swear till one is black in the face, swear till one is blue in the face, swear till all's blue; be sworn, call Heaven to witness; vouch, warrant, certify, assure, swear by bell book and candle.

Belief

Give one credit for; confide in, believe in, put one's trust in; place in, repose in, implicit confidence in; take one's word for, at one's word; place reliance on, rely upon, swear by, regard to.

Commission

Put in commission, accredit, engage, hire, bespeak, appoint, name, nominate, return, ordain; install, induct, inaugurate, swear in, invest, crown; enroll, enlist; give power of attorney to.

Falsehood

Verb: be false; Adjective:, be a liar; speak falsely; adVerb: tell a lie; lie, fib; lie like a trooper; swear false, forswear, perjure oneself, bear false witness.

Impiety

Verb: be impious; Adjective:, profane, desecrate, blaspheme, revile, scoff; swear; (malediction); commit sacrilege.

Insolence

Verb: be insolent; Adjective: bluster, vapor, swagger, swell, give oneself airs, snap one's fingers, kick up a dust; swear; (affirm); rap out oaths; roister. arrogate; assume, presume; make bold, make free; take a liberty, give an inch and take an ell.

Malediction

Verb: curse, accurse, imprecate, damn, swear at; curse with bell book and candle; invoke curses on the head of, call down curses on the head of; devote to destruction.

Curse and swear; swear, swear like a trooper; fall a cursing, rap out an oath, damn.

Pain

Intolerable, insufferable, insupportable; unbearable, unendurable; past bearing; not to be borne, not to be endured; more than flesh and blood can bear; enough to drive one mad, enough to provoke a saint, enough to make a parson swear, enough to gag a maggot.

Promise

Verb: promise; give a promise; Noun: undertake, engage; make an engagement, form an engagement; enter into an engagement, enter on an engagement; bind oneself, tie oneself, pledge oneself, commit oneself, take upon oneself; vow; swear; (affirm), give one's word, pass one's word, pledge one's word, plight one's word, give one's honor, pass one's honor, pledge one's honor, plight one's honor, give credit, pass credit, pledge credit, plight credit, give troth, pass troth, pledge troth, plight troth; betroth, plight faith.

Adjure, administer an oath, put to one's oath, swear a witness.

Smallness

Trifle; (unimportant thing); mere nothing, next to nothing; hardly anything; just enough to swear by; the shadow of a shade.

Crosswords: Swear

Louis, I swear that I (Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles; writing credit: Anne Rice)

If I didn't know you better, I'd swear you had some class (The Sting; writing credit: David S. Ward)

I do not know what strength is in my blood, but I swear to you I will not let the White City fall, nor our people fail (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; writing credit: Frances Walsh)

Look, if you touch one hair on his head, I swear I will spend the rest of my life making sure you suffer (Big; writing credit: Gary Ross; Anne Spielberg)

I'll swear, I'm never leaving the house again (Speed 2: Cruise Control; writing credit: Graham Yost; Jan de Bont)

I swear by the moon and the stars in the sky (I Swear; performing artist: All-4-One)

And I swear it all over again and I I'm never gonna treat you bad (Swear It Again; performing artist: Westlife)

But I swear that it's not making sense (When Can I See You; performing artist: Babyface; writing credit: Babyface)

And so far she hasn't run, though I swear she's had her moments (All About Soul; performing artist: Billy Joel)

These five words I swear to you (I'll Be There For You; performing artist: Bon Jovi)

When angry, count four! when very angry, swear. (references; author: Mark Twain)

You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive. (references; author: unknown)

Elvis Is Alive! I Swear I Saw Him Eating Ding Dongs Outside the Piggly Wiggly's (1998)

I SWEAR (performing artist: JOHN MICHAEL MONTGOMERY)

Swear It Again (performing artist: Westlife)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• I Swear By Apollo the Physician (reference)

• I Swear by Apollo: A Black Surgeon in the Deep South (reference)

• I Swear He Was Laughing: Poems About Dogs (Mostly) Who Only Think They Are People (reference)

• Swear by the Moon (reference)

• Swear Like a Trooper: A Dictionary of Military Terms & Phrases (reference)

  (more book examples)

Theater & Movies

• Thou Shalt Not Swear (reference)

  (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music

• Give A Monkey A Brain And He'll Swear He's The Center Of The Universe (reference)

• Swear to Tell the Truth (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Take that, he feebly said, and swear that it shall be delivered. Credit: Library of Congress.

President Calvin Coolidge. To sofa in living room, showing the notary seal which his father used to swear him in as president. Credit: Library of Congress.

I swear it to you on my common woman's head, the common woman is as common as a common loaf of bread -- and will rise. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

All those, moveover, in the land who of themselves and of their own accord are unwilling to swear to the twenty five to help them in constraining and molesting us, we shall by our command compel the same to swear to the effect foresaid. (reference)

Clause 8: Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Section. (reference)

How immoral to impose it on them, if they were to be used as the instruments, and the knowing instruments, for violating what they swear to support! (reference)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

I swear to you by the good God that I was not in the wrong

So thrive I, as I truly swear the like

My accounts, which I can swear to have kept faithfully, I have, indeed, never got audited, still less accepted, still less paid and settled

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Health

Magnets are increasingly popular with athletes who swear by their effectiveness for the control of sports-related pain and other painful conditions. (references)

Civil Liberties

Turkmenistan

Several members of Jehovah's Witnesses who had been imprisoned for conscientious objection were not released at the end of their term because they refused to swear an oath of loyalty to the President. (references)

Singapore

The Government deregistered and banned Jehovah's Witnesses in 1972 on the grounds that its approximately 2,000 members refuse to perform military service (which is obligatory for all male citizens), salute the flag, or swear oaths of allegiance to the State. (references)

Economic History

Sri Lanka

Members of the TULF, the official opposition, lost their seats in Parliament when they later refused to swear a loyalty oath in Sinhala, a new constitutional requirement. (references)

Human Rights

Pakistan

In January 2000, days before the Supreme Court was due to begin hearings on the legitimacy of the 1999 coup, President Musharraf ordered all Supreme Court, Shari'at court, and provincial High Court justices to take an oath committing themselves to uphold the PCO, which suspended the Constitution and legislative bodies and prohibited the superior courts from making any decision against the Chief Executive "or any person exercising powers or jurisdiction under his authority." Six Supreme Court justices, including the Chief Justice, and nine provincial High Court justices resigned in protest; however, 85 percent of the affected justices agreed to swear allegiance to the PCO. (references)

Political Rights

Turkmenistan

In 1999 the Government changed the national oath to require that citizens swear personal allegiance to President Niyazov in particular, rather than just to the presidency as a general institution. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "swear": curse and swear ♦ enough to make a parson swear ♦ i cannot swear it ♦ i swear ♦ i swear it! ♦ i swear that ♦ just enough to swear by ♦ swear a witness ♦ swear an affidavit ♦ swear an oath ♦ swear at ♦ swear brotherhood ♦ swear by ♦ swear by bell book and candle ♦ swear eternal friendship ♦ swear false ♦ swear falsely ♦ swear in ♦ swear into ♦ swear like a bargee ♦ swear like a fishwife ♦ swear like a trooper ♦ swear off ♦ swear on the bible ♦ swear on the book ♦ swear on the koran ♦ swear out ♦ swear revenge ♦ swear smb. to ♦ swear smb. to secrecy ♦ swear to ♦ swear to give up ♦ swear unreservedly ♦ swear word ♦ To swear by ♦ To swear off ♦ To swear the peace against one. Additional references.

Beginning with "swear": swear-word, swear-words.

Afrikaans

sweer. (various references)

Albanian

shaj (abuse, ballyrag, berate, bullyrag, call names, carpet, castigate, chastise, chide, come down on, curse, dish it out, dress down, flay, inveigh, jaw, lay into, objurgate, offend, rag, rap, revile, scold, shake up, shout, shout at, tell off, trounce, upbraid, vituperate), vë të betohet, mallkoj (anathematize, ban, call down, curse, damn, darn, dash, execrate, imprecate, vituperate), grindem (altercate, Bicker, brawl, cample, carp, differ, disagree, dispute, fall out, fight, find fault with, fray, fret, grizzle, grouse, have words with, Pule, quarrel, spat, wrangle), betohem (vow), betim (attestation, faith, oath, sacrament, vow), bëj be (vow). (various references)

Arabic 

‏قسم (administration, allocate, allot, apportion, authority, bisect, break up, deal out, department, distribute, district, divide, division, give out, halve, parcel, part, partition, portion, portion out, region, section, segment, separate, service, share, share out, split, subdivide, take an oath), ‏حلف (administer, alliance, axis, confederacy, confederate, entente, oath, take an oath), ‏سب (blackguard, blaspheme, revile, shake, slur, tick), ‏إستحلف (adjure), ‏إشتم (badmouth, bitch up, curse, jump, malign, offend, revile, rocket, scent, smell, talk dirty, tick), ‏أكد (accentuate, affirm, assert, asseverate, assure, aver, avouch, bear out, check up on, confirm, contend, corroborate, declare, double check, emphasize, predicate, proclaim, profess, protest, punctuate, show, substantiate, underline, underscore, vouch, warrant), ‏أقسم. (various references)

Bulgarian 

съскам (fizz, fizzle, hiss), ругатня (bad language, curse, cuss, damn, epithet, expletive, strafe), ругая (abuse, be down on, call names, curse, cuss, damn, drub, get on to smb., inveigh, keelhaul, land on, rail, rate, revile, row, slang, slate, storm at, swear at, vituperate, walk into, whip), кълна се (sware), карам да се закълне, заявявам под клетва (testify), заклевам се (vow), заклевам (adjure, attest, swear in), богохулство (blasphemy, oath, profanity), псувам (ballyrag, curse, damn, swear at), попържам (curse). (various references)

Chinese 

詛 (curse), 发誓 (Avow, Avowing, swearing, Swore, sworn, Vowed, Vowing). (various references)

Czech

zapřísáhnout se, zaklínat se, přísahat (take an oath, vow), nadávat (abuse, berate, call names, curse, grumble, revile, scold, storm), klít (curse). (various references)

Danish

sværge, bande (band, bevy, blaspheme, curse, cuss, gang). (various references)

Dutch

vloeken (blaspheme, curse, cuss), ketteren (blaspheme, curse, cuss), godlasteren (blaspheme, curse, cuss). (various references)

Esperanto

sakri (curse, cuss), blasfemi (blaspheme, curse, cuss), ĵuri. (various references)

Faeroese

svørja (curse, cuss), bannast (curse, cuss), banna (blaspheme, curse, cuss, damn). (various references)

Farsi 

فحش (Abusive, Damn, Darn, Swearword, Vilification), ناسزاگفتن (Curse, Revile), ناسزا (Profanity, Swearword), قسم دادن (Adjure), سوگندخوردن . (various references)

Finnish

vannoa (swear to it, take an oath). (various references)

French

jurer (to swear on oath, to swear under oath), prêter serment (to be sworn, to swear an oath), blasphémer. (various references)

Frisian

swarre, flokke (blaspheme, curse, cuss). (various references)

German

schwören (swear by, swearing, sworn, to swear, to vow), fluchen (anathematize, curse, cursing, cuss, effing and blinding, swearing, to anathematize, to curse). (various references)

Greek 

ορκίζομαι (kiss the book, swore, sworn, take an oath, vow). (various references)

Hebrew 

לקלל (curse, damn), לאלות (curse), לחרף (abuse, call names, insult, reproach, revile, vilify), לנבל את הפה (blackguard, scurrilous, talk dirty, utter obscenities). (various references)

Hungarian

szitkozódás (invectives), káromkodás (bad language, cursing, cuss, damn, expletive, oath, profane words, profanities, profanity, swear word, swearing, swear-word). (various references)

Icelandic

bölva (blaspheme, curse, cuss). (various references)

Indonesian

sumpah (curse, cuss, oath), bersumpah (abjure, pledge). (various references)

Italian

giurare (adjure, attest, vow), bestemmiare (blaspheme, curse, cuss). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

誓う (to pledge, to swear, to take an oath, to vow), 契る (to pledge, to promise, to swear). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

かみかけて (absolutely, swear by god), いつわりちかう (to swear falsely), ちぎる (to cut up fine, to pick, to pledge, to promise, to swear), ちかう (to pledge, to swear, to take an oath, to vow). (various references)

Korean 

맹세하십시요. (various references)

Manx

mynney (chop, imprecation, oath-book, swear-word), loo (fewer, least; affidavit, little, littler, oath, swearing), guee mollaghtyn (swearing), guee mollaght. (various references)

Norwegian

banne (blaspheme, curse, cuss). (various references)

Papiamen

hura. (various references)

Pig Latin

earsway.(various references)

Portuguese

praguejar (curse, cuss, dab, rap), jurar (promise, vow), blasfemar (blaspheme, curse, cuss). (various references)

Romanian

jura (take a vow, take an oath, take one's davy, vow), înjura (abuse, blaspheme, curse, cuss, damn, rail, revile). (various references)

Russian 

ругать (abuse, berate, drub, rail, scold, whip), клясться (asseverate, swear by, swore, sworn, vow), обругать (call names), присягать;клясться;ругаться, присягать, приводить к присяге (administer the oath, swear in), поклясться. (various references)

Scottish

lugh (a joint), bóidich. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

zaklinjati se, zakleti se (take an oath, vow), psovati (darn, rail, revile, swear at), kleti se. (various references)

Spanish

jurar (affirm, blaspheme, curse, cuss, pledge, vow). (various references)

Sranan

sweri (swell). (various references)

Swahili

kukufuru (blaspheme, curse, cuss). (various references)

Swedish

svära (blaspheme, curse, cuss, imprecate, vow). (various references)

Thai

สาบแช่ง, สาบาน. (various references)

Turkish

sövmek (call names, curse, rail, revile, slam, vituperate), sövüp saymak (badmouth, blackguard, blaspheme against, miscall, swear like a bargee), yeminle söylemek (swear out), yemin ettirmek (administer an oath, administer an oath to smb., attest, put smb. on his oath, put smb. to his oath, swear smb. to, tender an oath to smb.), yemin etmek (forswear, swear an oath, take an oath, take the pledge, vow), lânet okuma, kalaylamak (blanch, tin, tin-coat), küfretmek (abuse, blackguard, blaspheme, blaspheme against, blow, call names, curse, rail, revile, revile against smth., revile at smth., slang, vituperate), ant içmek (swear an oath, take an oath, vow), ant íçmek. (various references)

Turkmen 

sцwmek (swear (curse)), sцgьnз (obsenity, swear word), kдemek (curse out, swear out). (various references)

Ukrainian

свідчити (argue, attest, bear testimony, bear witness, depone, evidence, evince, give witness, homologate, militate, proclaim, reveal, tell, testate, testify, witness), клятва (adjuration, oath), богохульство (oath, profanity, sacrilege), присягатися (oath), присягати (take an oath), присяга (oath), прийняття присяги. (various references)

Vietnamese 

lời thề lời nguyền rủa (swore, sworn), câu chửi rủa (swear-word, swore, sworn). (various references)

Welsh

tyngu (adjure, asseverate, vow), rhegi (curse). (various references)

blasphemare, deierare, iora, iura, iurabis, iurabisque, iurabit, iurabitis, iurandi, iurandum, iurans, iurant, iurante, iurantes, iurantis, iurantium, iurare, iuraret, iurassent, iurasset, iurasti, iurat, iurate, iurationi, iuratis, iuraverant, iuraveras, iuraverat, iuraveris, iuraverit, iuraveritis, iuraverunt, iuraveruntque, iuravi, iuravimus, iuravit, iuravitque, iurent, iuret, iuretis, iuro, testabatur, testabor, testamur, testare, testatur, testatus, testetur, testor. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations

Words beginning with "swear": swearer, swearers, swearing, swears, swearword, swearwords. (additional references)

Words ending with "swear": foreswear, forswear, menswear, outswear, sportswear, unswear. (additional references)

Words containing "swear": foreswearing, foreswears, forswearing, forswears, outswearing, outswears, unswearing, unswears. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Swear" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: cewar, sawer, scear, Sewa, sewar, Sewart, skear, snear, swair, swar, swara, Swaraj, swari, swea, swead, swean, sweap, sweard, swearl, sweart, sweary, sweer, swei, Sweif, sweir, sweord, swer, swert, switar. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Direct Anagrams: resaw, sawer, sewar, sware, wares, wears.

-1 letter: ares, arse, awes, ears, eras, rase, raws, sear, sera, waes, ware, wars, wear.

-2 letters: are, ars, awe, ear, era, ers, ras, raw, res, sae, saw, sea, ser, sew, wae, war, was.

-3 letters: ae, ar, as, aw, er, es, re, we.

+1 letter: answer, dewars, hawser, pawers, rawest, resawn, resaws, rewash, sawers, sawyer, sewars, swager, swayer, swears, tawers, waders, wafers, wagers, wakers, walers, warsle, washer, waster, waters, wavers, waxers, wrasse, wreaks.

+2 letters: airwise, answers, avowers, bawlers, beswarm, bewares, bewraps, bewrays, brawest, chawers, clawers, drawees, drawers, dwarves, earwigs, enwraps, fawners, foresaw, fretsaw, gawkers, gawpers, gnawers, hawkers, hawsers, lawyers, oversaw, pawners, prewash, rawness, reavows, redowas, redraws, resawed, rewakes, rewards, rewarms, rewaxes, rewraps, sawyers, seaward, seaware, semiraw, skiwear, spawner, steward, strawed, swabber, swagers, swagger, swamper, swanker, swapper, swarded, swarmed, swarmer, swasher, swather, swatter, swayers, swearer, sweater, thawers, unswear, wadders, wafters, waggers, wailers, waister, waiters, waivers, walkers, wanders, wanters, warbles, wardens, warders, wariest, warless, warmers, warmest, warners, warpers, warrens, warsled, warsler, warsles, warstle, washers, washier, waspier, wasters, wastery, wastrel, wastrie, weaners, wearers, wearies, wearish, weavers, whalers, wharves, whereas, womeras, wrasses, wrassle, wrastle, wreaths, yawners, yawpers.