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

oath (plural oaths)

  1. A solemn pledge or promise, appealing to a deity, a ruler, or another entity (not necessarily present) to attest to the truth of a statement or sincerity of one's desire to fulfill a contract or promise.
    • 2007, George Simmons Roth, Battle in Outer Space (ISBN 9781681225296):
      But all of us took an oath to do our duty when we joined the Space Force, and I fully expect everyone to willingly keep their word. But you took no oath, and have no obligation.
    • 2011, Mark Leyne, "The Tetherballs of Bougainville: A Novel ↗
      There are […] brought all the way from Bougainville to present their birth certificates and testify in this courtroom, under oath, as to their given names.
  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
  • bloody oath (Australian slang)
  • fucking oath (Australian slang)
Translations Translations Translations Verb

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

  1. (archaic) To pledge.
Translations

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