swear
swore; swearing; swears
When you take an oath about something, you swear to it, affirming its truth. Ironically, if you utter an oath, such as a curse word or obscenity, you also swear. Do you swear to put a quarter in this jar for every time you swear?
The two separate meanings of swear come from branches of the same etymological tree. Both meanings have ties to Old Norse sverja, but sometime in the Middle English, the word became on one hand sweren with the meaning "to promise," while another version, swerian, became "to curse." Both might come from the idea of an oath being connected to a deity, but while one referred to truth, the other went to the dark side, negatively invoking a sacred name.
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to declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true“Before God I swear I am innocent”
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types:
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hold
assert or affirm
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claim, take
lay claim to; as of an idea
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attest
authenticate; affirm to be true, genuine, or correct, as in an official capacity
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declare
state firmly
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protest
affirm or avow formally or solemnly
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assure, tell
inform positively and with certainty and confidence
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type of:
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declare
state emphatically and authoritatively
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promise solemnly; take an oath
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type of:
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vow
make a vow; promise
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vow
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utter obscenities or profanities
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have confidence or faith in“I swear by my grandmother's recipes”
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Antonyms:
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disbelieve, distrust, mistrust, suspect
regard as untrustworthy; regard with suspicion; have no faith or confidence in
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types:
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credit
have trust in; trust in the truth or veracity of
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lean, rely
rely on for support
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bet, calculate, count, depend, look, reckon
have faith or confidence in
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believe
credit with veracity
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type of:
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believe
accept as true; take to be true
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disbelieve, distrust, mistrust, suspect
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make a deposition; declare under oath
Vocabulary lists containing swear
Edge: Level C, Volume 1, Unit 3, Cluster 2. Here are links to the other clusters within Unit 3: "Amigo Brothers" and "Lean on Me", "My Brother's Keeper" and "What Price Loyalty?", "The Hand of Fatima" and "Old Ways, New World"
An American-born daughter of missionaries recounts her childhood in China during a period of political unrest.
John Donne's "Song: Go and catch a falling star" is a fantastical quest, full of impossible sights and mystical wonders and a traveler who may not find what he is looking for (etext found here). Here are links to our lists for other poems by John Donne: "The Canonization", "The Flea", "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning", "Death, be not proud", "The Sun Rising"
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