Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use profanity in a sentence

25 example sentences · noun

Profanity means the quality of being profane; quality of irreverence, of treating sacred things with contempt. Example: “He ran up and down the street screaming profanities like a madman.”

Examples of profanity by meaning

nounThe quality of being profane; quality of irreverence, of treating sacred things with contempt.

  • The overwhelming power of his imagination led him to contemplate acts of impiety and profanity, and to a vivid realisation of the dangers these involved.1910, John William Cousin, “Bunyan, John”, in A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

nounObscene, lewd or abusive language.

  • He ran up and down the street screaming profanities like a madman.
  • 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
  • It was one of his few utterances without profanity, the person added.2025 September 12, Glenn Thrush, Devlin Barrett, Adam Goldman, “Patel and F.B.I. Face Scrutiny as Kirk’s Killer Remains at Large”, in The...

More sentences with profanity

  • He let out a string of profanities. That acronym is a string of letters. She heard a string of applause from the audience, amid a few strings of laughter.From the entry string
  • He grinned at the profanity that came out of the communicator-speaker.1947 April, Murray Leinster, “Skit-Tree Planet”, in Thrilling Wonder Stories, volume 30, number 1, page 42. From the entry Solarian
  • What's the best use of profanity in a song?2016 June 4, Rockah12, “Miranda's favorite curse word (from podcast)”, in Reddit, Music, archived from the original on 18 Aug 2022. From the entry precision F-strike
  • Let's just say that the "B" stood for "Buddy" and the "F" stood for a classic word of profanity.2013, Jeff Rose, Soldier of Finance: Take Charge of Your Money and Invest in Your Future, AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn, →ISBN, page 26. From the entry blue falcon
  • Profanity can also be found in-between a name.2013, Arvin Moradi, Smart Clustering System for Filtering and Cleaning User Generated Content: Creating a profanity filter for Truecaller…. From the entry clbuttic
  • My solution will not detect the profanity in the name “ArAssvin” and that’s because of the clbuttic mistake.2013, Arvin Moradi, Smart Clustering System for Filtering and Cleaning User Generated Content: Creating a profanity filter for Truecaller…. From the entry clbuttic
  • In Canada the realistic dialogue, nonformulaic plots and even the use of profanity in “Durham County” “really broke the mold,” Mr.2009 September 6, Elizabeth Jensen, “Network’s New Energy Source: The Dark”, in New York Times. From the entry nonformulaic
  • I was expecting a lunatic yelling profanities.1999, Jan Blackstone-Ford, The Custody Solutions Sourcebook, page 196. From the entry throw
  • Isn't it a sin to use profanity?1998 November 11, Leonard Lautzbach, “Re: Did Life Originate by Chance?”, in talk.origins (Usenet). From the entry Jehovy
  • Evidently, you can call the authorities from a button on your computer and complain when profanity is being used.1995, Howard Stern, Miss America. From the entry cyberpolice
  • Sterling himself, though he had the most picturesque and inimitable vocabulary of vituperation, was highly squeamish about ordinary smut or profanity.1947, Miriam Allen deFord, “Laureate of Bohemia: George Sterlin”, in They Were San Franciscans, Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers…. From the entry vituperation
  • Then he burst into a stream of horrible profanity.1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Which Introduces Some Very Physical Phenomena”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no.…. From the entry sucker
  • For a "soft R" like "Four Weddings and a Funeral," which features a smattering of profanity, a theater might check identifications only lightly.1996 February 18, Trip Gabriel, “The Ratings Game At the Cineplex”, in The New York Times, page Section 2, Page 1. From the entry hard r
  • Hence, perhaps, the innumerability of the anecdotes anent the irrepressibility of profanity while playing the game — a game proverbially provocative of reprehensible expletives.1910, Arnold Haultain, The Mystery of Golf, The Macmillan Company, page 197. From the entry innumerability
  • I noted even high-school teachers - and funeral celebrants - have tattoos these days, which in a more enlightened era, I would have regarded as bordering on profanity.2017 February 18, “Death cafes: Are you thirsty? I'm dying for a coffee”, in New Zealand Herald. From the entry funeral celebrant
  • Lichorich put on a performance that antagonised the crowd, who shouted profanities as he constantly dingolayed around the ring in a bid to avoid confrontation with Ralph.2013 February 6, Kevon Felmine, “Odel retains King of the Rock title”, in Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, Port of Spain, Trinidad and…. From the entry dingolay
  • For 11 years now, “day and night, every Saturday and Sunday,” Aman had devoted his life to what he calls maledicta, the scholarly study of profanity and insults.1977 October 30, Edith Herman, “*%&!$*&#-X!!!: Naughty Words — Reinhold Aman knows them all”, in Toledo Blade. From the entry maledicta
  • Either a single swear in a song that's otherwise clean or a stand-out swear in a song full of profanity, what's the most well-done use of cursing in a song?2016 June 4, Rockah12, “Miranda's favorite curse word (from podcast)”, in Reddit, Music, archived from the original on 18 Aug 2022. From the entry precision F-strike
  • Tolbert said profanity was considered a violation of league policy but also that nonprofane comments could be deemed offensive if they prevented players from hearing their coach during a timeout.2007 December 14, Joe Lapointe, “Does Free Speech Give a Fan the Right to Heckle?”, in New York Times. From the entry nonprofane
  • After unleashing a tirade of profanity: Lawrence Will recorded his response as: “Dag-nabbit, I can't even set foot on the blasphemous property to see what in the hooraw I've bought!”2006, Michael Grunwald, The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise, →ISBN, page 785. From the entry hooraw
  • The Professor of Logic next door has been making the heavens blush with the brimstone profanity of his enquiries as to what-the-polysyllabic-Hades else we could think it was open for.1937 January 14, James Pontifex, “Threat of Asinicide”, in Chicago Daily Tribune, volume XCVI, number 12, Chicago, Ill., →ISSN, →OCLC…. From the entry asinicide

Meaning of profanity

  1. noun The quality of being profane; quality of irreverence, of treating sacred things with contempt.
  2. noun Obscene, lewd or abusive language.

Full definition of profanity

Questions about profanity in a sentence

How do you use profanity in a sentence?
Profanity is used as a noun. For example: “He ran up and down the street screaming profanities like a madman.”
What is a short sentence with profanity?
“I was expecting a lunatic yelling profanities.”
What does profanity mean?
Profanity means the quality of being profane; quality of irreverence, of treating sacred things with contempt.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: profanity (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use profanity in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/profanity. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.