swear
Base form
swear
/sweə(r)//swer/
Past simple
swore
/swɔː(r)//swɔːr/
Past participle
sworn
/swɔːn//swɔːrn/
MeaningB2
to use rude words, or to promise very seriously
to swear on the Bible
In use
- Negative · Form 1Please don’t swear in front of the children.
- After a modal verb · Form 1Can you swear that you were at home all evening?
- Past simple · Form 2Yesterday Ben swore when he dropped the hammer on his foot.
- Past simple · Form 2At their wedding last June they swore to love each other forever.
- Present perfect · Form 3I’ve sworn never to eat at that café again.
- Passive · Form 3The witnesses were sworn in before the trial began.
Watch out
Like wear: swore and sworn, never sweared or swored. I could have sworn… means ‘I was sure’.
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