cuss

1. 1.

   a persistently annoying person

   Synonymspestblighterpesterergadfly

   Broadertormentor

   Narrowernudnik
2. 2.

   a boy or man

   “that chap is your host”

   “there's a fellow at the door”

   “he's a likable cuss”

   “he's a good bloke”

   Synonymschapfellowfellerfellaladgentblighterbloke

   Broadermale

   Narrowerdog
3. 3.

   profane or obscene expression usually of surprise or anger

   “expletives were deleted”

   Synonymscursecurse wordexpletiveoathswearingswearword

   Broaderprofanity

1. 1.

   utter obscenities or profanities

   “The drunken men were cursing loudly in the street”

   Synonymscurseblasphemeswearimprecate

   Broaderexpress

Other forms of cuss

plural

cusses·

past tense

cussed·

present participle

cussing·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about cuss

What does cuss mean?

cuss means "a persistently annoying person". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in cuss?

cuss has 1 syllable: cuss. In IPA it is /ˈkʌs/.

What is another word for cuss?

Close synonyms include pest, blighter, pesterer, gadfly, chap. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is cuss a common word?

cuss is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.