to swear at
7
6.5
- phrasal verb
- /swɛr æt/
- Offensive
:
insultar a
- He's swearing at me.
- swear at the umpire
- yell and swear at
He rages, swears at us, calls us names.
- He rages, swears at us, calls us names.
- And I swore at him and hung up the phone.
- My boyfriend of one year yelled and swore at me.
- A dad was praised for refusing to write apology letter after son swore at teacher.
- I remember, you know, when we started to discover swear words, we'd go out in the woods and swear at each other and stuff like that.
Examples
-
Do not swear at me, young lady.
-
It's not polite to swear at your friends when you're upset.
-
- She used to swear at me a lot.
-
Think about that before you call and swear at me!
-
Just remember to never swear at a cop. From the same site.
Blog text (13) -
You shouldn't lose your temper and swear at people, should you?
-
Don't swear at me.
-
He swore at you and stood up and said, "How dare you call me a neo-Nazi!"
-
swear at your coworkers during a meeting is unprofessional.
-
She couldn't help but swear at the traffic when she was late.
Synonyms
192
4.1
To say bad words in anger
30
8.1
To say swear words when angry or frustrated
28
8.3
To speak rudely and loudly to a person in charge
5
8.1
To say rude words to someone or something
To say a bad word when you feel angry or hurt
How Abusive
- Offensive
95
4.2
36
7.2
379
1.4
- Offensive
7
6.5
- Formal
26
6.9
55
2.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
swear + at
The verb 'swear' means to use profane or abusive language and the preposition 'at' marks the target, so the combined meaning — directing abusive language toward someone — is directly derivable from the constituents. This is a simple verb + preposition composition common in English (and mirrored in many languages), so a B1 learner who knows the parts will readily understand the MWE.
Etymology
Swear at paints a simple picture: imagine someone throwing rude words like stones at another person. swear is to use rude words and at shows the words are aimed at the person, so it means 'to use rude words toward someone'.