Meanings
sweater curse1
- uncountableA superstition among knitters that making a sweater for a romantic partner increases the likelihood of a breakup.
At the time, Petteys didn‘t know about the boyfriend sweater curse, one of those bits of knitterly lore that gets handed down through the generations.
2010 March 23, Adrienne Martini, “March: Acquisitions, or You Spent How Much on a Book?”, in Sweater Quest: My Year of Knitting Dangerously, Atria Books, →ISBN, page 25
Sweater Curse2
- alternativeuncountableAlternative form of sweater curse
Even cooler: guys who knit can make their own sweaters, and you can avoid the Sweater Curse!
2006, Shannon Okey, “3: Easy Does It”, in Knitgrrl 2: Learn to Knit with 16 All-new Patterns, Watson-Guptill Publications, Incorporated, →ISBN, page 351 more example
What is widely known among us as the Sweater Curse is recognized as a superstition, but one which many personal accounts support.
[2013 November 11, Alison Lurie, “The Supernatural Power of Knitting”, in Ann Hood, editor, Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting, W. W. Norton, →ISBN, page 183
Cite this entry
sweater curse. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sweater%20curse
“sweater curse.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sweater%20curse. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sweater curse,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sweater%20curse.
Source: sweater curse on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.