curse
pronunciation
How to pronounce curse in British English:
UK [kɜːs]
How to pronounce curse in American English:
US [kɜːrs]
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- Noun:
- profane or obscene expression usually of surprise or anger
- an appeal to some supernatural power to inflict evil on someone or some group
- an evil spell
- something causes misery or death
- a severe affliction
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- Verb:
- utter obscenities or profanities
- heap obscenities upon
- wish harm upon; invoke evil upon
- exclude from a church or a religious community
Word Origin
- curse
- curse: [OE] Curse first appeared in late Old English (in the early 11th century) as curs. It has no known linguistic relatives, and it is not clear where it comes from. Perhaps the most plausible suggestion is that it was borrowed from Old French curuz ‘anger’ (which probably came from the verb *corruptiāre, a Vulgar Latin derivative of Latin corrumpere ‘destroy’ – source of English corrupt), and that curse itself therefore originally meant ‘anger, wrath’. The colloquial alteration cuss dates from the 18th century.=> corrupt, rupture
- curse (n.)
- late Old English curs "a prayer that evil or harm befall one," of uncertain origin, perhaps from Old French curuz "anger," or Latin cursus "course." Connection with cross is unlikely. No similar word exists in Germanic, Romance, or Celtic. Curses as a histrionic exclamation is from 1885. The curse "menstruation" is from 1930. Curse of Scotland, the 9 of diamonds in cards, is attested from 1791, but the origin is obscure.
- curse (v.)
- Old English cursian, from the source of curse (n.). Meaning "to swear profanely" is from early 13c. Related: Cursed; cursing.
Synonym
Antonym
Example
- 1. State welfare based on paper money is a curse .
- 2. But they curse its absence even more .
- 3. It could not be and the spell became a curse .
- 4. Call it the curse of the euro .
- 5. Each curse can be viewed as a blessing .