Word.ws English Dictionary

curse

UK/kɜːs//kɝs/

curse noun: a supernatural detriment or hindrance; a bane.

Noun

curse (plural curses)

  1. A supernatural detriment or hindrance; a bane.
    • If ye will not heare, and if yee will not lay it to heart, to giue glory vnto my name, saith the Lord of hostes; I will euen send a curse vpon you, and will curse your blessings: yea, I haue cursed them already, because yee doe not lay it to heart.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Malachi 2:2
    • Oh Portius, is there not some choſen Curſe,
      Some hidden Thunder in the Stores of Heav’n,
      Red with uncommon Wrath, to blaſt the Man
      Who owes his Greatneſs to his Country’s Ruin?1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2
    Synonyms:
    ban, hex, jinx, malediction
  2. A prayer or imprecation that harm may befall someone.
  3. The cause of great harm, evil, or misfortune; that which brings evil or severe affliction; torment.
    • The common curſe of mankinde, Folly and Ignorance[…]c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609...
    Synonyms:
    affliction, plague
  4. A vulgar epithet.
    • Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths. Consider for a moment the origins of almost any word we have for bad language – "profanity", "curses", "oaths" and "swearing" itself.2013 June 14, Sam Leith, “Where the profound meets the profane”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 37
  5. (dated, derogatory, slang, usually, with-definite-article) A woman's menses.
    Synonyms:
    courses, period, Aunt Flo, Aunt Frieda, Aunt Rose, blob, blood sports, Bloody Mary, blowjob week, breaching the beaver dam

Verb

curse (third-person singular simple present curses, present participle cursing, simple past and past participle cursed or (archaic) curst)

  1. (transitive) To place a curse upon (a person or object).
    • And Balaam said unto God, Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, hath sent unto me, saying,
      Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt, which covereth the face of the earth: come now, curse me them; peradventure I shall be able to overcome them, and drive them out.
      And God said unto Balaam, Thou...1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 22:10–12
    • Captain Edward Carlisle[…]felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze,[…]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as...1910, Emerson Hough, “A Lady in Company”, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
    Antonyms:
    bless
  2. To call upon divine or supernatural power to send injury upon; to imprecate evil upon; to execrate.
    • Thou ſhalt not[…]curſe the ruler of thy people.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 22:28, column 1
    Antonyms:
    bless
  3. (transitive) To speak or shout a vulgar curse or epithet.
  4. (intransitive) To use offensive or morally inappropriate language.
    • Then beganne hee to curſe and to ſweare[…]1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 26:74, column 2
    • […]his Spirits heare me, / And yet I needes muſt curſe.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
    Synonyms:
    swear
  5. To bring great evil upon; to be the cause of serious harm or unhappiness to; to furnish with that which will be a cause of deep trouble; to afflict or injure grievously; to harass or torment.
    • On Impious Realms, and barb’rous Kings, impoſe / Thy Plagues, and curſe 'em with ſuch Sons as thoſe.1712 May, Statius, “The First Book of Statius his Thebais”, in [Alexander] Pope, transl., Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 29
    Synonyms:
    afflict, shaft, wreak

curse meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

curse in Hindi

supernatural detriment
शाप śāp, अभिशाप abhiśāp
prayer that harm may befall someone
शाप śāp, अभिशाप abhiśāp, बददुआ badduā, लानत lānat, फटकार phaṭkār
vulgar epithet
गाली gālī
to place a curse upon
अभिशाप देना abhiśāp denā

curse in Tamil

supernatural detriment
சாபம் cāpam
to place a curse upon
சபி capi

curse in Marathi

supernatural detriment
शाप śāp
prayer that harm may befall someone
शाप śāp
vulgar epithet
शिवी śivī
to utter a vulgar curse
शिवी देणे śivī deṇe

curse in Urdu

supernatural detriment
لَعْنَت la'nat
prayer that harm may befall someone
بَد دُعا bad du'ā, لَعْنَت la'nat
to place a curse upon
لعنت بھیجنا la'nat bhejnā
More languagesFewer languages
curse in Bengali
অভিশাপ obhiśap
curse in Telugu
శాపం śāpaṁ, తిట్టు tiṭṭu, శపించు śapiñcu
curse in Malayalam
ശാപം śāpaṁ, ശപിക്കുക śapikkuka, പ്രാക്ക് prākkŭ, പിരാകുക pirākuka
curse in Kannada
ಶಾಪ, ಅಭಿಶಾಪ, ಕೇಡು, ಹಾನಿ
curse in Punjabi
سراپ sarāp, ਧਿੱਕਾਰ dhikkār, در پھٹے مونہہ dur phiṭe mūṉh
curse in Gujarati
શાપ śāp
curse in Odia
କାଟିବା kāṭibā
curse in Sanskrit
शाप śāpa, शपति śapati
curse in Assamese
শাও xaü
curse in Nepali
श्राप, अभिशाप, श्राप गर्न
curse in Tagalog
sumpa
curse in Arabic
لَعْنَة laʕna, لَعَنَ laʕana, نِقْمَة niqma, شَتَمَ šatama
curse in Malay
sumpahan, kutuk, laknat
curse in Indonesian
kutuk
curse in Persian
لَعْنَت la'nat, نِفْرین nefrin, فُحْش fohš, دُشْنام došnâm
curse in Thai
สาป sàap, คำสาป, คนหยาบคาย, แช่ง chɛ̂ng
curse in Vietnamese
lời nguyền, nguyền rủa, chửi rủa, nguyền

Examples of curse in a sentence

  • Dad thinks there is a curse on the place.” “Most like.1970, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 50:
  • He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.1910, Emerson Hough, “A Lady in Company”, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company...

All 40 example sentences with curse

Synonyms of curse

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of curse

Forms of curse

Noun
pluralcurses
Verb
third-person singular presentcurses
present participlecursing
past participlecursed
pastcursed
past participle (archaic)curst
past (archaic)curst

Past tense of curse: cursed

Plural of curse: curses

Origin of curse

From Middle English curse, kors, cors, curs, from Old English cors, curs (“curse”), of unknown origin.

From Middle English cursen, corsen, coursen, from Old English corsian, cursian (“to curse”), from the noun (see above).

Words formed from curse

Phrases with curse

Words that rhyme with curse

36 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about curse

What does curse mean?
Curse means a supernatural detriment or hindrance; a bane.
What is curse in Hindi?
Curse in Hindi is शाप (śāp), अभिशाप (abhiśāp), कोसना (kosnā). See Curse meaning in Hindi.
How do you use curse in a sentence?
Dad thinks there is a curse on the place.” “Most like.
What part of speech is curse?
Curse can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce curse?
Curse is pronounced /kɜːs/ (UK).
What is the plural of curse?
The plural of curse is curses.

Words near curse in the dictionary

  1. curs
  2. Cursa
  3. cursable
  4. Curschmann's spirals
  5. Curschmann-Steinert disease
  6. curse
  7. curse it
  8. curse jar
  9. curse jars
  10. curse like a pagan
  11. curse like a sailor

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: curse (page history and authors); curse (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); در پھٹے مونہہ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); શાપ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); କାଟିବା (Odia) (page history and authors); শাও (Assamese) (page history and authors); curse (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-curse.ogg.

Cite this entry: “curse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/curse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.