SWORN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sworn mean? 

• SWORN (adjective)
  The adjective SWORN has 2 senses:

1. bound by or as if by an oath

2. bound by or stated on oath

  Familiarity information: SWORN used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SWORN (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Bound by or as if by an oath

Synonyms:

pledged; sworn

Context example:

sworn enemies

Similar:

committed (bound or obligated, as under a pledge to a particular cause, action, or attitude)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Bound by or stated on oath

Context example:

now my sworn friend and then mine enemy

Similar:

bound (bound by an oath)

Antonym:

unsworn (not bound by or stated on oath)

 Context examples 

We have sworn together that it must not.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

As we entered I could have sworn I saw a vague bulk emerging to windward.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

"Absent from me a whole month, and forgetting me quite, I'll be sworn!"

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“I would be right glad to study under such a master,” said Alleyne; “but I am sworn to follow my lord whilst this war lasts.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I knew that Moriarty was not the only man who had sworn my death.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I could have sworn that it was set in a malicious and abominable smile.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The girl has sworn that as he spoke she noticed the corner of the little paper packet protruding from his closed hand.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A newspaper with a sworn circulation of half a million published an original and spontaneous poem by Helen Della Delmar, in which she gibed and sneered at Brissenden.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The princess begged and prayed; but the king said, “I have sworn to give you to the first comer, and I will keep my word.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)