- 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.
- take an oath
- swear an oath
- 2
A statement or promise which is strengthened (affirmed) by such a pledge.
- After taking the oath of office, she became the country's forty-third premier.
- The generals swore an oath of loyalty to the country.
- 3
A light, irreverent or insulting appeal to a deity or other entity.
- 4
A curse, a curse word.
- 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[…]
syn. pledge · vow · avowal