What's the difference between curse and swear?

Curse


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To call upon divine or supernatural power to send injury upon; to imprecate evil upon; to execrate.
  • (v. t.) To bring great evil upon; to be the cause of serious harm or unhappiness to; to furnish with that which will be a cause of deep trouble; to afflict or injure grievously; to harass or torment.
  • (v. i.) To utter imprecations or curses; to affirm or deny with imprecations; to swear.
  • (v. t.) An invocation of, or prayer for, harm or injury; malediction.
  • (v. t.) Evil pronounced or invoked upon another, solemnly, or in passion; subjection to, or sentence of, divine condemnation.
  • (v. t.) The cause of great harm, evil, or misfortune; that which brings evil or severe affliction; torment.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But it was also a portrait of an England charged with secrets - and, as Michael Billington put it, the work of an accomplished playwright who understood the English curse of 'emotional evasion.'
  • (2) A new, terrible curse that comes on top of the bleaching, the battering, the poisoning and the pollution.
  • (3) She comes from the "cursed" political dynasty in Pakistan : her grandfather, the former president Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was executed in 1979, three years before Fatima was born; her father, the radical politician Murtaza Bhutto, was shot dead by police in 1996; and her aunt, the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was killed in a bombing in 2007.
  • (4) It has somehow managed to escape the curse of Murdoch, who partly owns it.
  • (5) But it accused South Park of having mocked the prophet, and cited Islamic scholars who ruled that "whoever curses the messenger of Allah must be killed".
  • (6) Now they await the results of the American League Championship Series to see whether this year's World Series will be a rematch of 2004, when the Cardinals were swept by the curse-reversing Boston Red Sox, or 2006, when the Cardinals defeated the Detroit Tigers and became one of the worst teams to win the World Series in MLB history .
  • (7) Several survivors and family members of the victims who were flown to the US testified this week , and one cursed Bales for attacking villagers as some slept and others screamed for mercy.
  • (8) The bakers can freeze each layer as it goes on, tensely waiting by the ice box, cursing under their breath.
  • (9) Still alive, he was then surrounded by people who cursed and spat at him, kicked him in the head and tried to hit him with a chair.
  • (10) How they got here You'll be forgiven if you thought they were still cursed, if you had been following recent baseball history.
  • (11) Not a Lynyrd Skynyrd "doom will plague you at every turn" sort of curse, it must be said; more a sequence of mildly irritating events.
  • (12) In 1 infant diagnosed with Ondine's curse, examination showed diffuse neuronal loss and gliosis in the medullary tegmentum.
  • (13) Since then, the cursing and sobbing have been plentiful.
  • (14) Maguwu said: "To me it's very clear the diamonds have been a curse to this country.
  • (15) As Taylor cursed, McClaren embarked on a tactical rejig.
  • (16) The curse of playing Ari Gold is that Jeremy Piven may have to spend the rest of his life trying to convince the world he is not a rage-fuelled blustering asshole.
  • (17) They managed to catch two people, aged no more than 30, and were beating them up badly, swearing at them all the time and cursing the Shia clerics, saying: "Where is al-Khomeini now?
  • (18) It would swirl around that child's head in the manner of a bad fairy from a storybook bringing along a cursed gift to a christening.
  • (19) Infantile delivery also frequently serves to take the curse off self-publicity; sleight of hand for those who find "my programme is on BBC2 tonight" too presumptuous and exposing, and prefer to cower behind the low-status imbecility of "I done rote a fingy for da tellybox!"
  • (20) This discovered gothic quality within everyday life found one of its finest expressions in the American work of French-born director Jacques Tourneur , especially the brilliant Cat People (1943), Curse of the Cat People (1944) and Night of the Demon (1957).

Swear


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To affirm or utter a solemn declaration, with an appeal to God for the truth of what is affirmed; to make a promise, threat, or resolve on oath; also, to affirm solemnly by some sacred object, or one regarded as sacred, as the Bible, the Koran, etc.
  • (v. i.) To give evidence on oath; as, to swear to the truth of a statement; he swore against the prisoner.
  • (v. i.) To make an appeal to God in an irreverant manner; to use the name of God or sacred things profanely; to call upon God in imprecation; to curse.
  • (v. t.) To utter or affirm with a solemn appeal to God for the truth of the declaration; to make (a promise, threat, or resolve) under oath.
  • (v. t.) To put to an oath; to cause to take an oath; to administer an oath to; -- ofetn followed by in or into; as, to swear witnesses; to swear a jury; to swear in an officer; he was sworn into office.
  • (v. t.) To declare or charge upon oath; as, he swore treason against his friend.
  • (v. t.) To appeal to by an oath.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It’s no good me swearing on a Bible; I don’t share your faith.” Morrison said: “I will do it, Ray, but I think it’s a very offensive thing for you to ask me to do but I’ll do it if that’s what you require...if you insist I will.” Hadley did not persist with the demand.
  • (2) Perhaps he modified his language for the NY Times reporter, but the more likely explanation is that his swearing added nothing and was therefore omitted by the writer or edited out; in America, even in liberal New York, profanities still need to be argued into print.
  • (3) I swear you don't even like each other and yet you're helping each other out?'"
  • (4) A jury is empanelled, 11 of them swearing on the Bible, one on the Qur’an: six women, six men.
  • (5) When election strategists brought in to pour over Ghani’s speeches told him to swear off coffee on rally days to strengthen his voice, he gave up one of his very few indulgences immediately.
  • (6) A few years back, a survey of 3,000 11-year-olds revealed that nine out of 10 parents swear in front of their children, and the average kid heard six different expletives per week (whoever said profanity was bad for your vocabulary?).
  • (7) Asked if he would "swear it", Huhne replies: "Absolutely.
  • (8) • 1050 East Palm Canyon Drive (+1 760 323 1858, thehorizonhotel.com ); double rooms from $109 The Movie Colony Movie Colony, Palm Springs Concierge John-Michael swears that Jim Morrison made the leap from balcony to pool here in 1969, and that Frank Sinatra was a resident while his nearby home was being renovated – and even though the myth of celebrity tends to get overblown, if not utterly fabricated, in southern California, we found no reason not to take him at his word.
  • (9) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sixtus ‘Baggio’ Leung and Yau Wai-ching with anti-China banners during their swearing-in ceremony.
  • (10) For a moment he sounds almost camp, but mainly he is solid, talking slowly in a deep voice, sometimes swearing for emphasis, rounding off his sentences "and so on and so forth".
  • (11) The limited swearing, which he does admit, and immediately apologised for, could preclude redemption by reshuffle in the court of parliament, even if it would not be fatal in a court of law.
  • (12) Israel has approved a massive new building programme of Jewish settlement homes in the occupied Palestinian territories , following hard on the heels of the swearing-in of the US president, Donald Trump.
  • (13) 6.37pm GMT Falcons 3 - Seahawks 0, 3:23 1st quarter I swear Ryan is calling out "street meat, street meat" on the line of scrimmage.
  • (14) Scott Morrison has said he was “offended” and “disappointed” that his friend the broadcaster Ray Hadley pressed him to swear an oath on the Bible to prove he was telling the truth about his actions in the Liberal leadership upheaval.
  • (15) "I have to say that if I had been wearing these glasses that day against England," he told the Daily Record in 2005, "then I swear they would only have scored about eight."
  • (16) To really be beloved in France he needs to learn to swear with the virtuosity of a Frenchman who's mislaid his linen Agnes B scarf in the Rue du Bac.
  • (17) Ghana had two players sent home, Sulley Muntari for hitting an official and Kevin-Prince Boateng for allegedly swearing at the coach.
  • (18) The video and audio recordings revealed the swearing in of ’Ndrangheta mobsters to an elite membership known as “Santa”.
  • (19) They swear a lot, but they don’t threaten to file a complaint.
  • (20) But learning how to ski in backcountry takes years, and can involve a lot of swearing and slapstick mishap.