nounoaths

• 1A solemn promise, often invoking a divine witness, regarding one's future action or behavior.

  ‘they took an oath of allegiance to the king’

  More example sentences

  • ‘From early days the taking of solemn religious oaths was regarded as an essential part of the political and social order.’
  • ‘For a few moments the couple find themselves in church or in the registry office watched by their closest family and friends, publicly swearing what amounts to a solemn oath of allegiance to each other.’
  • ‘Each individual undergoing treatment takes a solemn oath to change their behavior.’
  • ‘The Gods witness oaths, and will take note of how the oath-taker regards that oath.’
  • ‘The newly-elected students then took solemn oaths to take the school to new heights, fulfil their duties and perform their responsibility without any hesitation.’
  • ‘Each cardinal will be required to take solemn oaths not to disclose any of their discussions on the pain of excommunication from the Church.’
  • ‘Democrats and Republicans are on different sides of the aisle, but we have a shared oath and a solemn obligation to serve our country together.’
  • ‘Another woman reporter made a solemn oath to bring her husband and 13-month-old baby to the park next year.’
  • ‘To suggest that I did not administer an oath to these witnesses to help them lie to members of Congress is false, inexcusable.’
  • ‘Indeed, in a bull of 1212, Pope Innocent III relaxed the obligations of prior oaths and forbade the exaction of similar oaths in the future.’
  • ‘Amid daring speeches and solemn oaths we signed our names on the wall committing ourselves to launching the real thing - the real Utopia - no matter who we became in the between years.’
  • ‘But James also believed that he was in practice constrained by solemn oaths made at his coronation to rule according to the ‘laws and customs of the realm’.’
  • ‘It was useful to recall that he enjoyed a kind of imperial status among his people, who were bound to him with solemn rites and blood-sealed oaths.’
  • ‘What is a ceremony full of solemn oaths and taking ‘measures’ going to change?’
  • ‘Once again they had managed to get out of a dangerous situation with very little injuries and as the man in the shadows turned from them he made a solemn oath that this would not be the case next time.’
  • ‘Let's all make a solemn oath to never again bring up how the drivers would have finished under the old points system.’
  • ‘Bolingbroke gives his solemn oath that he has come not to usurp the throne but simply to reclaim his rightful goods and title.’
  • ‘A group of Bradford immigrants will take an oath of allegiance to the Queen and make a pledge to uphold British democratic values in a history-making ceremony at City Hall on Monday.’
  • ‘Participants will deliver an oath of allegiance to the Queen and a pledge of commitment to the United Kingdom, in what is now a compulsory part of the naturalisation process.’
  • ‘They will also have to sign a citizenship pledge as part of an oath of allegiance to the Queen and take part in US-style citizenship ceremonies.’

  Synonyms

  vow, sworn statement, promise, pledge, avowal, affirmation, attestation, word of honour, word, bond, guarantee, guaranty

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  1. 1.1A sworn declaration that one will tell the truth, especially in a court of law.
     ‘each took the oath and then gave evidence’
     More example sentences

     • ‘But he could have given a statement to the court without swearing an oath, an option not pursued by his inexperienced lawyer.’
     • ‘Other than the preliminary vetting by the trial judge, there is a challenge for cause, peremptory challenges and the oath of the juror.’
     • ‘One of the sisters, Brenda, sobbed as she took the oath before giving evidence and when asked how close she was to her.’
     • ‘Practically, to prohibit the taking of an oath by an interstate court would have the effect of preventing an interstate court sitting and the prohibition can be more express.’
     • ‘He took the oath, then sat in the familiar seat after declaring his full name and occupation.’
     • ‘Pratt took the oath for the last time at the coroner's court in Castle Street, before heading off to pursue his interest in steam locomotives, gardening and travelling.’
     • ‘Sperry and a number of others to their case to the appellate court and eventually the courts proclaimed the oath to be unconstitutional.’
     • ‘Similarly, a civil servant may be compelled by a summons to witness to attend at trial and to give evidence despite the oath, if so required by the court.’
     • ‘We understand that yesterday you raised your hand and took the oath.’
     • ‘Jurors take an oath to try the defendant on the evidence and to give true verdicts.’
     • ‘They put this view into practice quite straightforwardly, avoided ostentatious clothing and wealth, refused to swear oaths in court, to bear arms or to defend themselves.’
     • ‘Ike, who took the oath of office for his second term as president in 1957, and who everybody liked, died in 1969.’
     • ‘As he took the oath, it became obvious to all that his left arm was totally useless.’
     • ‘Carr entered the witness box and swore an oath before the court, then gave some preliminary details about herself.’
     • ‘Historians may also recall that the first African American Senator, Hiram Revels took the oath of office in February 1870.’
     • ‘And under the juror oath to tell the truth about prior arrests, he also seemed to have an agenda.’
     • ‘The system can require an oath in criminal court and enforce penalties for perjury.’
     • ‘On Monday, senators took their oaths as jurors before the Supreme Court's chief justice for Brown's impeachment trial.’
     • ‘The officer who was going to witness the oath for me asked me if I was going to omit the line and when I said yes he refused to do it.’
     • ‘He told the judge that he stood before her with ‘my right hand on the Bible’ to ‘swear a solemn oath promising to do what the claimants want’.’

• 2A profane or offensive expression used to express anger or other strong emotions.

  ‘he exploded with a mouthful of oaths’

  More example sentences

  • ‘he was muttering foul oaths’
  • ‘His oaths and anger had obviously offended Tori.’
  • ‘Shakespeare knew a thing or two about cursing - Hamlet is essentially a play about swearing and oaths, and in The Tempest, Caliban was taught language but learned to curse his master.’
  • ‘Cue for groans and muttered oaths from my neighbors, and that was before they'd stepped out on to Madison, where New York's finest were out in force, checking identities and blocking off half the streets of midtown.’
  • ‘Alyssa kept screaming curses and oaths, and would have broken all the furniture in Alli's bedroom, had Lisa not restrained her.’
  • ‘Finally, many oaths include in their language explicit consequences for breaking them.’
  • ‘She let out a long string of oaths and expletives, carefully picking herself up from the floor.’
  • ‘It would be impossible to find anywhere a more frightening example of self-imposed curses than these oaths.’
  • ‘Viro cursed an oath, his fair eyes flashing, his muscles tensed.’
  • ‘The oath itself is curse enough, being four pages in length.’
  • ‘She winced and screamed a very foul and unladylike oath.’
  • ‘His steel-toe capped boots rang clear through the cell as he paced impatiently back and forth, muttering oaths and damnation to the barred window that reflected the outside world.’
  • ‘Five minutes later, Keyan was in the medical bay, stripped down to his boxers, with a medic fussing over him, muttering oaths about how barbaric the fights were.’
  • ‘Thoroughly humiliated and irritated in far too many ways, Em got to her knees, muttering oaths that would have made Uncle Tuan proud.’
  • ‘Viro walked down the path beyond the witch's house, muttering a thousand oaths against sorcery.’
  • ‘She heard the sound of the door closing, and she muttered a few choice oaths under her breath.’
  • ‘Nikolas broke the kiss and muttered an oath under his breath.’
  • ‘Chad could hear a muttered oath and then footsteps, padding toward the entrance of the house.’
  • ‘Bahzell lowered his sword slowly and muttered an oath as he surveyed the carnage.’
  • ‘The thrall muttered an oath under her breath and summoned forth a blast of flame.’
  • ‘Viro cursed and oath and grabbed at the man's cheek and chest, but he had passed into oblivion.’

  Synonyms

  swear word, profanity, expletive, four-letter word, dirty word, obscenity, imprecation, curse, malediction, blasphemy

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