A word or sound (often a curse or swear word) inserted into speech that doesn't add meaning; used for emphasis or to fill a gap.
From Latin expletivus (serving to fill), from explere (to fill out). Originally meant any word used to fill out a sentence, later narrowed to profanities.
When you bleep out curse words on TV, you're removing expletives—but the original meaning was any filler word, like how we say 'um' or 'like' today. Language evolves and words shift from neutral to taboo!
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