gosh
- 1A mild exclamation of surprise or enthusiasm, used as a softer substitute for stronger language like "God."
Gosh, I never expected to run into you all the way out here.
She glanced at the price tag and muttered, "Gosh, that's a lot of money."
Similargolly, goodness, geez, blimey, crikey
Note
A minced oath with a long history. It first appears in 1757 in the phrase by gosh, probably descended from by gosse in Nicholas Udall's Ralph Roister Doister (circa 1553). The swearing pattern survives, "by" plus a sacred name, but the altered sound removes the name itself. That is why it can open a sentence in polite company where the original would jar.
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Origin
An altered form of "God," first recorded in 1757 in the phrase "by gosh," probably from "by gosse" in Nicholas Udall's Ralph Roister Doister (circa 1553).