to swear off
10
4.9
- phrasal verb
- /swɛr ɔf/
:
renunciar a
- Located in Chicago's Little Italy, Chef Michael Schrader's Urban Union boldly swears off red sauce in favor of clean, market-driven small plates.
- swear off meat
- swear off sex
- swear off women
And it's become so common and so cloying, it's almost enough to make you want to swear off fun forever.
- And it's become so common and so cloying, it's almost enough to make you want to swear off fun forever.
- As we approach primary day in my home state of South Kakalaki, Trump has said he is swearing off the swearing because value voters do not like the salty talk.
- So after Kim and I saw what it took to take three companies public, all the garbage that went into that sausage, I, Kim and I swore off paper.
- And I, I, the last time I did it, I, I swore off of it.
Examples
-
I'm about this close to swearing off men altogether.
-
"I'm swearing off men forever," she said, biting out the words.
Fiction book (1990) -
You know, I can see why you have sworn off human blood.
-
Both had sworn off relationships until they met each other.
Blog text (5) -
I'm going to swear off these house parties until I finish this score.
-
I know how you swore off this campaign stuff.
-
You said this morning you were swearing off women.
-
Buck, I tell you, after the professor, I swore off instructors for life.
-
A couple days after we all got over acting like big shots, we swore off the hard stuff forever and just stuck to Bazooka.
-
After years of overeating, she finally decided to swear off junk food for her health.
Synonyms
683
3.7
To stop doing something you once did
668
1.0
To stop doing a habit or activity like smoking
209
3.5
To make a serious promise to do or not do something
102
3.4
Stop doing something that annoys someone
2
9.6
To promise to give up a belief, habit, or practice
1
9.9
To publicly promise to give up a belief, habit, or claim
Antonyms
How Committed
- Informal
5
4.2
10
4.9
668
1.0
65
2.7
291
2.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to promise to stop doing something' is directly derivable from combining 'swear' (to make a solemn promise) with 'off' (indicating cessation or removal). This verb+particle composition is a regular, compositional pattern in English, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Swear off is a phrasal verb that comes from making a strong promise: you swear, meaning promise, to stay off something. So when someone swears off chocolate, they are promising 'to stop' eating it.