oath

plural oaths

1. A solemn pledge or promise that invokes a deity, a ruler, or another entity (not necessarily present) to attest the truth of a statement or sincerity of one's desire to fulfill a contract or promise.

   take an oath

   5 more examples

   swear an oath

   break one's oath

   But all of us took an oath to do our duty when we joined the Space Force, and I fully expect everyone to willingly keep their word. But you took no oath, and have no obligation.

   2007, George Simmons Roth, Battle in Outer Space, →ISBN

   There are […] brought all the way from Bougainville to present their birth certificates and testify in this courtroom, under oath, as to their given names.

   2011, Mark Leyne, The Tetherballs of Bougainville: A Novel

   "I want to release you from your oath," he said, a slight flutter in his voice.

   2002, David B. Coe, Rules of Ascension, Tom Doherty Associates, page 127

2. A statement or promise which is strengthened (affirmed) by such a pledge.

   The generals swore an oath of loyalty to the country.

   2 more examples

   After taking the oath of office, she became the country's forty-third premier.

   Wrex: [sigh] Before I left, I made an oath to my father's father. Wrex: I swore to recover my family's battle armor. It was taken from him after the uprising.

   2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-1

3. A light, irreverent or insulting appeal to a deity or other entity.
4. A curse, a curse word.

   The farther from the Senator's office, the darker and older the furniture, the freer fly four-letter oaths, the higher the heaps of unfiled and unattended papers culminating in a frenzy of pulp in the press section[…]

   1981, Bernard Asbell, The Senate Nobody Knows

present singular third person oaths · participle present oathing · participle past oathed · past oathed

1. archaicTo pledge.