What does “God” exactly mean here?

God, she’d love to get out of here!

Could you please tel me what God exactly means here?

The fuller text is:

Lauren examines a broken fingernail, trying to recall whether she
brought a nail file with her. She glances at all the gloomy faces
around her. No one appears to be enjoying themselves—even if they
wanted to, it would be in bad taste. Candice going off to the library
to work, as if nothing has happened, seems a bit callous. God, she’d
love to get out of here! And it’s barely past lunchtime. She wonders
how much longer they will be trapped in this hotel.

5 Answers
5

God is used in this case as an interjection:

used for expressing strong feelings such as anger, surprise, or worry. Note that: some people consider this expression offensive”.

(Macmillan Dictionary)

Some people in societies with a Christian tradition use the names of sacred figures such as God, Jesus, etc, as an oath or exclamation, particularly to intensify an utterance, often with an exclamation mark afterwards, e.g. God! It's hot today; Jesus! I'm tired. Some Roman Catholics invoke the entire "Holy Family" - Jesus, Mary and Joseph! I want a drink! Using these words in this way does not necessarily imply strong religious belief, in fact many Christians consider such swearing to be wrong, and a form of profanity.

God in your example is used to emphasize what you are saying when you are surprised, annoyed, or amused (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).

Visitor @goelakash says in a comment that it's not clear how swearing is involved, and asks whether a living person, a president, say, can be invoked merely by name in such a locution.

It's not swearing as in cussing (cursing) but as in telling the truth. The exclamation is a shortened form of By God, that is, an invocation of God to attest to the truthfulness of the utterance. We swear by something, for example, "by all that is holy".

God, it's hot today! or Jeez it's cold in here!

Speakers have long lost the sense that an oath is involved when using these exclamations. They are merely very strong emphatics and can express intense emotion, such as anger or dismay or alarm.

Jesus Mary and Joseph, what the f--k are you doing to my car!?

To swear by a living person or some other ad hoc entity, we need to use the preposition by.

By the Trump brand, I'm telling the truth, I say! The god's honest truth!

P.S. Speakers who consider such language truly offensive are a small minority. The speech of many people who are good and devout, and who are kind and charitable to others, is peppered with such "oaths". But on those occasions that require propriety most of them would rein themselves in.

P.P.S. I've spelled the word f--k only because the answer might get censored otherwise.

Although there is no "!" just after god, it is used as an exclamation. Notice the exclamation at the end of the sentence
The author remarks as with how much will or love she wanted to get out of here. She was very willing to get out.
One example:
"God, how beautiful that painting is!"

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