different between instruct vs swear
instruct
English
Etymology
From Latin ?nstr?ctus, perfect passive participle of ?nstru? (“I instruct; I arrange, furnish, or provide”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /??n?st??kt/
- Rhymes: -?kt
Verb
instruct (third-person singular simple present instructs, present participle instructing, simple past and past participle instructed)
- (transitive) To teach by giving instructions.
- Synonyms: educate, guide
- c. 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act I, Scene 3,[1]
- Supply me with the habit and instruct me
- How I may formally in person bear me
- Like a true friar.
- 1682, Aphra Behn, The False Count, London: Jacob Tonson, Act III, Scene 2, p. 33,[2]
- What a dishonour’s this, to me, to have so Dull a Father, that needs to be instructed in his Duty.
- 1751, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, No. 156, 14 September, 1751, in Volume 5, London: J. Payne and J. Bouquet, 1752, p. 177,[3]
- […] the design of tragedy is to instruct by moving the passions,
- 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Chapter 10,[4]
- […] I should deem you a man sore sick, it may be, yet not so sick but that an instructed and watchful physician might well hope to cure you.
- 1974, Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, New York: William Morrow, Part 4, Chapter 29, p. 353,[5]
- At the Laundromat I instruct Chris on how to operate the drier, start the washing machines […]
- (transitive) To tell (someone) what they must or should do.
- Synonyms: command, direct, order
- Usage note: "instruct" is less forceful than "order", but weightier than "advise"
- c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, Act III, Scene 1,[6]
- What, shall a child instruct you what to do?
- 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 39,[7]
- All the servants were instructed to address her as “Mum,” or “Madam” […]
- 1989, John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany, New York: Ballantine, 1997, Chapter 5, p. 195,[8]
- Observing that the Christ Child’s nose was running, she deftly wiped it; then she held the handkerchief in place, while instructing him to “blow.”
Related terms
Translations
Noun
instruct (plural instructs)
- (obsolete) Instruction.
Adjective
instruct (not comparable)
- (obsolete) Arranged; furnished; provided.
- c. 1615, George Chapman (translator), Homer’s Odysses, London: Nathaniell Butter, Book 4, p. 62,[9]
- For he had neither ship, instruct with oares,
- Nor men to fetch him from those stranger shores.
- c. 1615, George Chapman (translator), Homer’s Odysses, London: Nathaniell Butter, Book 4, p. 62,[9]
- (obsolete) Instructed; taught; enlightened.
- 1671, John Milton, Paradise Regained, London: John Starkey, Book 1, lines 438-441, p. 24,[10]
- Who ever by consulting at thy shrine
- Return’d the wiser, or the more instruct
- To flye or follow what concern’d him most,
- And run not sooner to his fatal snare?
- 1671, John Milton, Paradise Regained, London: John Starkey, Book 1, lines 438-441, p. 24,[10]
Anagrams
- unstrict
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swear
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /sw??/
- (General American) IPA(key): /sw??/
- Rhymes: -??(?)
Etymology 1
From Middle English sweren, swerien, from Old English swerian (“to swear, take an oath of office”), from Proto-West Germanic *swarjan, from Proto-Germanic *swarjan? (“to speak, swear”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to swear”).
Cognate with West Frisian swarre (“to swear”), Saterland Frisian swera (“to swear”), Dutch zweren (“to swear, vow”), Low German swören (“to swear”), sweren, German schwören (“to swear”), Danish sværge, Swedish svära (“to swear”), Icelandic sverja (“to swear”), Russian ????? (svara, “quarrel”). Also cognate to Albanian var (“to hang, consider, to depend from”) through Proto-Indo-European.
The original sense in all Germanic languages is “to take an oath”. The sense “to use bad language” developed in Middle English and is based on the Christian prohibition against swearing in general (cf. Matthew 5:33-37) and invoking God’s name in particular (i.e. frequent swearing was considered similar to the use of obscene words).
Verb
swear (third-person singular simple present swears, present participle swearing, simple past swore or (archaic) sware, past participle sworn or yswore)
- (transitive, intransitive) To take an oath, to promise.
- The Bat—they called him the Bat. […]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.
- (transitive, intransitive) To use offensive, profane, or obscene language.
Usage notes
- In sense 1, this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:swear word
- See also Thesaurus:swear
Derived terms
Translations
Etymology 2
From the above verb, or from Middle English sware, from Old English swaru, from Proto-Germanic *swar?.
Noun
swear (plural swears)
- A swear word.
- 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Beach of Falesá
- You might think it funny to hear this Kanaka girl come out with a big swear. No such thing. There was no swearing in her — no, nor anger; she was beyond anger, and meant the word simple and serious.
- 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Beach of Falesá
Etymology 3
From Middle English swere, swer, swar, from Old English sw?r, sw?r (“heavy, heavy as a burden, of great weight, oppressive, grievous, painful, unpleasant, sad, feeling or expressing grief, grave, slow, dull, sluggish, slothful, indolent, inactive from weakness, enfeebled, weak”), from Proto-West Germanic *sw?r, from Proto-Germanic *sw?raz (“heavy”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“heavy”).
Cognate with West Frisian swier (“heavy”), Dutch zwaar (“heavy, hard, difficult”), German schwer (“heavy, hard, difficult”), Swedish svår (“heavy, hard, severe”), Latin s?rius (“earnest, grave, solemn, serious”) and Albanian varrë (“wound, plague”).
Alternative forms
- sweer, sweir, swere
Adjective
swear (comparative swearer or more swear, superlative swearest or most swear)
- (Britain dialectal) Heavy.
- (Britain dialectal) Top-heavy; too high.
- (Britain dialectal) Dull; heavy; lazy; slow; reluctant; unwilling.
- (Britain dialectal) Niggardly.
- (Britain dialectal) A lazy time; a short rest during working hours (especially field labour); a siesta.
Derived terms
Verb
swear (third-person singular simple present swears, present participle swearing, simple past and past participle sweared)
- (Britain dialectal) To be lazy; rest for a short while during working hours.
References
- swear at OneLook Dictionary Search
Anagrams
- resaw, sawer, sware, wares, wears
swear From the web:
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