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Swear vs Deny - What's the difference?

swear | deny | Related terms |

Swear is a related term of deny.


As verbs the difference between swear and deny

is that swear is to take an oath or swear can be to be lazy; rest for a short while during working hours while deny is to not allow.

As a noun swear

is a swearword.

As an adjective swear

is heavy.

swear

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) sweren, swerien, from (etyl) through Proto-Indo-European.

Verb

  • To take an oath.
  • *
  • *:The Bat—they called him the Bat.. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.
  • (lb) To use offensive language.
  • Synonyms
    * See also
    Usage notes
    * In sense 1, this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See
    Synonyms
    * See also
    Derived terms
    * swear by * swear like a trooper * swear on a stack of Bibles * swear out * swear to God * swear word

    Etymology 2

    From the above verb, or from (etyl) sware, from (etyl) swaru, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A swearword.
  • Etymology 3

    From (etyl) swer, swar, from (etyl) .

    Alternative forms

    * (l), (l), (l)

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Heavy.
  • Top-heavy; too high.
  • Dull; heavy; lazy; slow; reluctant; unwilling.
  • Niggardly.
  • A lazy time; a short rest during working hours (especially field labour); a siesta.
  • Derived terms
    * (l) * (l) * (l)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To be lazy; rest for a short while during working hours.
  • deny

    English

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • To not allow.
  • I wanted to go to the party, but I was denied .
  • * 1847 , Anne Brontë, Agnes Grey Chapter XVI
  • 'Do! pray do! I shall be the most miserable of men if you don't. You cannot be so cruel as to deny me a favour so easily granted and yet so highly prized!' pleaded he as ardently as if his life depended on it.
  • To assert that something is not true.
  • I deny that I was at the party.
    Everyone knows he committed the crime, but he still denies it.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=November 1 , author=James Robinson and Lisa O'Carroll , title=Phone hacking: NoW warned about 'culture of illegal information access' , work=The Guardian citation , page= , passage=But Myler and Crone told the committee in September that they had made Murdoch aware at the 10 June 2008 meeting that hacking was not restricted to a single journalist. They claimed this was the reason Murdoch agreed to settle the Taylor's case. James Murdoch subsequently wrote to the committee to deny this. }}
  • To disallow
  • to refuse to give or grant something to someone
  • My father denied me a good education.
  • * J. Edwards
  • To some men, it is more agreeable to deny a vicious inclination, than to gratify it.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2008 , date=April 12 , author= , title=Mother denied daughter's organs , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=A mother who urgently needs a kidney transplant has branded the system which denied her the organs of her dying daughter as "ridiculous".}}
  • (sports) To prevent from scoring.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=November 3 , author=Chris Bevan , title=Rubin Kazan 1 - 0 Tottenham , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Another Karadeniz cross led to Cudicini's first save of the night, with the Spurs keeper making up for a weak punch by brilliantly pushing away Christian Noboa's snap-shot.
    Two more top-class stops followed quickly afterwards, first from Natcho's rasping shot which was heading into the top corner, and then to deny Ryazantsev at his near post.}}
  • To disclaim connection with, responsibility for, etc.; to refuse to acknowledge; to disown; to abjure; to disavow.
  • * Bancroft
  • the falsehood of denying his opinion
  • * Keble
  • thou thrice denied , yet thrice beloved
  • (obsolete) To refuse (to do or accept something).
  • * Shakespeare
  • if you deny to dance

    Usage notes

    * This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing) . See

    Synonyms

    (assert something is not true) gainsay, contradict, withsay

    Antonyms

    (not allow) allow (assert something is true) confirm, affirm

    Derived terms

    * deniability * denier