from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. An exclamation or oath, especially one that is profane, vulgar, or obscene.
- n. A word or phrase that does not contribute any meaning but is added only to fill out a sentence or a metrical line.
- n. Linguistics A word or other grammatical element that has no meaning but is needed to fill a syntactic position, such as the words it and there in the sentences It's raining and There are many books on the table.
- adj. Added or inserted in order to fill out something, such as a sentence or a metrical line.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- adj. Serving to fill up, merely for effect, otherwise redundant
- adj. Marked by expletives (phrase-fillers)
- n. A profane, vulgar term, notably a curse or obscene oath.
- n. A word without meaning added to fill a syntactic position.
- n. A word that adds to the strength of a phrase without affecting its meaning.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- adj. Filling up; hence, added merely for the purpose of filling up; superfluous.
- n. A word, letter, or syllable not necessary to the sense, but inserted to fill a vacancy; an oath.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Serving to fill up; added to fill a vacancy, or for factitious emphasis: specifically used of words. See II., 2.
- n. Something used to fill up; something not necessary but used for embellishment.
- n. In rhetoric and grammar, a word or syllable which is not necessary to the sense or construction, or to an adequate description of a thing, but which is added for rhetorical, rhythmical, or metrical reasons, or which, being once necessary or significant, has lost notional force.
- n. Hence, by euphemism, an oath; an exclamatory imprecation: as, his conversation was garnished with expletives.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. a word or phrase conveying no independent meaning but added to fill out a sentence or metrical line
- n. profane or obscene expression usually of surprise or anger
Your example of the expletive is a good one (“There were mistakes.”)
I hope they burn in expletive, or get hit by an asteroid.
Pretty sad when an honest expletive is "your best" act in office, but that's a fair reflection of his sad contribution to American politics.
The expletive is entirely implied, and Politico reports that the Clark campaign insists that the ad not be described as using an expletive.
I can only imagine that this display of peevishness, combined with you impassioned use of the Anglo-Saxon expletive, is an attempt to stymie your critics with the depth of your feeling rather than the strength of your arguments.
How about an expletive from the mouth of Albert Belle?
Here the edifying conversation was interrupted by a loud explosive expletive from the buttery, which showed that my grandmother was listening with anything but approbation.
I recently received an e-mail from a friend stating how the "expletive" - Democrats were trying to steal the election via "expletive" - ACORN registering a "expletive" - bunch of criminals and non-existent, non-entities and how the "expletive, expletive, expletive" - need to be taken out and shot.
Her onstage patter relied heavily on a certain expletive, and she undercut "Basket Case," the evening's most doleful offering, by dedicating it to "everyone out there who's sad.
"He later said" the [expletive] is gonna hit the fan on November 2 "before endorsing Republican candidates Meg Whitman and Marco Rubio.