expletive deleted

expletive deleted

English

Etymology

Attested since at least the 1930s, but popularized in the U.S. after the Watergate scandal, during which transcripts of conversations were published with profanity replaced by “[EXPLETIVE DELETED]”.

Noun

expletive deleted (plural expletives deleted)

1. (euphemistic, humorous) An all-purpose profanity.
   • 2013, J. David Markham; Mike Resnick, History Revisited: The Great Battles, Eminent Historians Take on the Great Works of Alternative History, . BenBella Books, →ISBN, page 41:

     Because you sold him out just to have a martyr, you expletive deleted.

Adjective

expletive deleted (not comparable)

1. (euphemistic, humorous) An all-purpose profanity.
   • 2003, Toby Miller, “What It Is and What It Isn’t: Cultural Studies Meets Graduate Student Labor”. In Austin Sarat and Jonathan Simon (eds.), Cultural Analysis, Cultural Studies, and the Law: Moving Beyond Legal Realism. Duke University Press, →ISBN, p. 90:

     You are paid a lot of money; kindly do some expletive-deleted work.

Verb

expletive deleted

1. (rare, euphemistic, humorous) To have sex with.
   • 1993, Allen, Steve, Make ’em laugh, Prometheus Books, page 293:

     I’d like to expletive deleted you.
     Oh, expletive, that’s what I’d like to do.

Synonyms

• discuss Uganda, get into someone's pants, see someone's etchings; see also Thesaurus:copulate or Thesaurus:copulate with