to tend to cuss

8.1

Often say bad words when angry or stressed

phrasal verb
/tɛnd tu kʌs/

Offensive

: soler decir palabrotas

She tends to cuss under her breath when things go wrong at work.

Examples

I tend to cuss when I'm frustrated.
He tends to cuss when he gets angry.
My uncle tends to cuss when he watches sports on TV.
People who are stressed often tend to cuss more than usual.
My uncle tends to cuss when he watches sports on TV.
He tends to cuss when he gets frustrated with technology.
People who are stressed often tend to cuss more frequently.

Synonyms

to swear

vsto tend to cuss

Offensive

253 4.3

To use rude or offensive words, often when angry

is repeated often as a habit rather than occasional use

to curse

vsto tend to cuss

Offensive

192 4.1

To say bad words in anger

is done repeatedly as a habit rather than only in anger

to cuss

vsto tend to cuss

NSFW

30 8.1

To say swear words when angry or frustrated

is used habitually to express profanities without needing anger

Antonyms

to refrain

87 4.2

Choose not to do something you want to do

to abstain

18 5.0

To choose not to take something, often for health or religious reasons

Surface Forms

tend to cuss infinitive

tended to cuss past

tended to cuss past participle

tending to cuss present participle

tends to cuss third person singular

Morphology

tend + to + cuss

The meaning is directly built from the parts: 'tend' (be inclined/have a habit) + the infinitival 'to' + 'cuss' (use swear words) yields 'habitually use profanity.' This is a standard compositional English pattern (tend to + verb) and would be clear to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

The phrase tend to cuss puts together tend, meaning to do something often, and cuss, meaning to use swear words. Imagine a mouth like a tap that keeps dripping rude words; that's why the phrase means 'to often swear'.