cursing

UK/ˈkɜːsɪŋ//ˈkɝsɪŋ/

cursing is the present participle and gerund of curse.

Meaning of curse

Verb

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

(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
Synonyms:

bewitch, damn, ensorcell, maleficiate

Antonyms:

bless
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
Synonyms:

comminate, execrate, imprecate

Antonyms:

bless
(transitive) To speak or shout a vulgar curse or epithet.

Synonyms:

swear, blaspheme, curse like a pagan, curse like a trooper, curse like a sailor, cuss, eff and blind, eff and jeff, execrate, imprecate
(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
Synonyms:

swear
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

See all 10 meanings of curse

Noun

cursing (plural cursings)

The act of one who curses.

Forms of cursing

plural	cursings

Origin of cursing

From Middle English kursyng, from Old English cursiende, equivalent to curse + -ing.

From Middle English cursing, cursyng, cursunge, from Old English cursung (“cursing”), equivalent to curse + -ing.

Words formed from cursing

cursingly

Phrases with cursing

Words that rhyme with cursing

Questions about cursing

What does cursing mean?: Cursing means the act of one who curses.
What is cursing the present participle and gerund of?: Cursing is the present participle and gerund of curse.
What part of speech is cursing?: Cursing is a noun.
How do you pronounce cursing?: Cursing is pronounced /ˈkɝsɪŋ/ (US).
What is the plural of cursing?: The plural of cursing is cursings.

Words near cursing in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: cursing (page history and authors); curse (page history and authors). 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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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

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