| / English Dictionary |
OATH
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A commitment to tell the truth (especially in a court of law); to lie under oath is to become subject to prosecution for perjury
Synonyms:
oath; swearing
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("oath" is a kind of...):
commitment; dedication (a message that makes a pledge)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Profane or obscene expression usually of surprise or anger
Example:
expletives were deleted
Synonyms:
curse; curse word; cuss; expletive; oath; swearing; swearword
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("oath" is a kind of...):
profanity (vulgar or irreverent speech or action)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A solemn promise, usually invoking a divine witness, regarding your future acts or behavior
Example:
they took an oath of allegiance
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("oath" is a kind of...):
promise (a verbal commitment by one person to another agreeing to do (or not to do) something in the future)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "oath"):
bayat (an oath of allegiance to an emir)
Instance hyponyms:
Hippocratic oath (an oath taken by physicians to observe medical ethics deriving from Hippocrates)
Context examples:
They lost their tempers easily and called one another names, while oaths and obscene allusions were frequent on their lips.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
His elder brother dashed his hand aside with an oath, while an expression of malignant hatred passed over his passion-drawn features.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The oaths and secrets of this brotherhood were frightful, but once within its rule no escape was possible.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
"I swear it!" he said solemnly, kneeling beside her and holding up his hand, as one who registers an oath.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
“Rest be blanked,” said Hal, with his beardless lips; and Mercedes said, “Oh!” in pain and sorrow at the oath.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
A person who has a license that gives them the legal power to witness the signing of documents, to certify that documents are real, and to take statements made under oath.
(Notary public, NCI Dictionary)
His manners now, though not polished, were more than passable: they were grateful, animated, manly; his expressions were those of an attached father, and a sensible man; his loud tones did very well in the open air, and there was not a single oath to be heard.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
This declaration brought on a loud and overpowering reply, of which no part was very distinct, except the frequent exclamations, amounting almost to oaths, which adorned it, and Catherine was left, when it ended, with rather a strengthened belief of there being a great deal of wine drunk in Oxford, and the same happy conviction of her brother's comparative sobriety.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
The old man, still clad in his surplice, burst into such a string of foul oaths as I have never heard, and pulled out a revolver of his own, but, before he could raise it, he was looking down the barrel of Holmes’s weapon.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Lastly, That, upon his solemn oath to observe all the above articles, the said man-mountain shall have a daily allowance of meat and drink sufficient for the support of 1724 of our subjects, with free access to our royal person, and other marks of our favour.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
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