different between oath vs obscenity

English

Etymology

From Middle English ooth, oth, ath, from Old English ?þ (“oath”), from Proto-Germanic *aiþaz (“oath”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?óytos (“oath”). Cognate with Scots aith, athe (“oath”), North Frisian ith, iss (“oath”), West Frisian eed (“oath”), Dutch eed (“oath”), German Eid (“oath”), Swedish ed (“oath”), Icelandic eið (“oath”), Latin ?tor (“use, employ, avail”), Old Irish óeth (“oath”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /????/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?o??/
• Rhymes: -???

Noun

oath (plural oaths)

1. A solemn pledge or promise that invokes a deity, a ruler, or another entity (not necessarily present) to attest the truth of a statement or sincerity of one's desire to fulfill a contract or promise.
   • 2007, George Simmons Roth, Battle in Outer Space (?ISBN):

     But all of us took an oath to do our duty when we joined the Space Force, and I fully expect everyone to willingly keep their word. But you took no oath, and have no obligation.

   • 2011, Mark Leyne, "The Tetherballs of Bougainville: A Novel

     There are […] brought all the way from Bougainville to present their birth certificates and testify in this courtroom, under oath, as to their given names.

2. A statement or promise which is strengthened (affirmed) by such a pledge.

3. A light, irreverent or insulting appeal to a deity or other entity.
4. A curse, a curse word.
   • 1981, Bernard Asbell, The Senate Nobody Knows:

     The farther from the Senator's office, the darker and older the furniture, the freer fly four-letter oaths, the higher the heaps of unfiled and unattended papers culminating in a frenzy of pulp in the press section […]

Synonyms

• pledge, vow, avowal

Derived terms

Related terms

• bloody oath (Australian slang)
• fucking oath (Australian slang)

Translations

Verb

oath (third-person singular simple present oaths, present participle oathing, simple past and past participle oathed)

1. (archaic) To pledge.

Translations

Further reading

• oath on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• HATO, Thao, taho

English

Etymology

obscene +? -ity, from Latin obscenitas.

Noun

obscenity (countable and uncountable, plural obscenities)

1. (countable) Something that is obscene.

   Martha wouldn't go into the art museum because, as she put it, "They have obscenities just sitting out, on display!"

2. (countable) An act of obscene behaviour.

   Bestiality was outlawed as an obscenity in the strongly conservative community.

3. (countable) Specifically, an offensive word; a profanity; a dirty word.

   Eliza couldn't stand her daughter's music; as she saw it, it was just shouted obscenities and a heavy drum beat.

4. (uncountable) The qualities that make something obscene; lewdness, indecency, or offensive behaviour.

   The coalition of religious conservatives was campaigning against, in their view, rampant obscenity in the entertainment industry.

Translations