oath
Etymology

From Middle English ooth, oth, ath, from Old English āþ, from Proto-West Germanic *aiþ, from Proto-Germanic *aiþaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁óytos.

Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ˈəʊθ/
  • (America) IPA: /ˈoʊθ/
Noun

oath (plural oaths)

  1. A solemn pledge or promise that invokes a deity, a ruler, or another entity (not necessarily present) to attest the truth of a statement or sincerity of one's desire to fulfill a contract or promise.
    take an oath
    swear an oath
    break one's oath
  2. A statement or promise which is strengthened (affirmed) by such a pledge.
    After taking the oath of office, she became the country's forty-third premier.
    The generals swore an oath of loyalty to the country.
  3. A light, irreverent or insulting appeal to a deity or other entity.
  4. A curse, a curse word.
    • 1981, Bernard Asbell, The Senate Nobody Knows:
      The farther from the Senator's office, the darker and older the furniture, the freer fly four-letter oaths, the higher the heaps of unfiled and unattended papers culminating in a frenzy of pulp in the press section […]
Synonyms Related terms Translations Translations Translations Verb

oath (oaths, present participle oathing; simple past and past participle oathed)

  1. (archaic) To pledge.
Translations


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