four-letter words

noun

plural of four-letter word
as in curses
a disrespectful or indecent word or expression clapped her hands over the toddler's ears so he wouldn't hear the four-letter word

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for four-letter words
  1. curses
  2. languages
  3. swears
Noun
  • Morgan and her Judgment Day cronies tried to bribe Danhausen to put curses on their opponents.
    — Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 28 June 2026
  • In baseball, curses are no joking matter, and the Curse of the FTD Burger might now have befallen the team.
    — Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 26 June 2026
Definition of curses
Noun
  • Minionese blends fragments of half a dozen languages, English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, and others, so the dialogue would feel familiar to audiences everywhere rather than tied to any one country.
    — David Deal, Forbes.com, 7 July 2026
  • They can also be used for de-aging characters, creating performances in different languages, or preserving the voice or likeness of an actor whose health is deteriorating, as was the case with CAA client Eric Dane.
    — Joy Press, Vanity Fair, 6 July 2026
Definition of languages
Noun
  • The event finds more than 20,000 people participating in an annual bar crawl throughout the city while dressed in their best holiday attire, tackiest Santa Claus costumes, and ugliest Christmas swears.
    — Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 15 Apr. 2026
  • Kennedy could be heard hurling swears at the Swedish team.
    — Andrew Greif, NBC news, 23 Feb. 2026
Definition of swears
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

four-letter word
four-letter words
four-poster
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Four-letter words.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/four-letter%20words. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

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Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
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