execrate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to detest utterly; abhor; abominate.
-
to curse; imprecate evil upon; damn; denounce.
He execrated all who opposed him.
verb (used without object)
verb
-
(tr) to loathe; detest; abhor
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(tr) to profess great abhorrence for; denounce; deplore
-
to curse (a person or thing); damn
Other Word Forms
- execration noun
- execrative adjective
- execratively adverb
- execrator noun
- unexecrated adjective
Etymology
Origin of execrate
1555–65; < Latin ex ( s ) ecrātus (past participle of ex ( s ) ecrārī to curse), equivalent to ex- ex- 1 + secr- (combining form of sacrāre to consecrate; sacrament ) + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
Just when you thought you knew every word in the book for hate, here's a new one: execrate. The word means to despise or also to curse. Broken down to its Latin root, the word execrate means the opposite of being sacred or devoted to. When you execrate something, you are cursing it instead of making it holy. The word is not used all that often. If you say to someone, "I execrate you!" they might think you're casting an evil spell on them. Which in a way, by cursing them, you are.
Vocabulary lists containing execrate
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The citizen of Oceania is not allowed to know anything of the tenets of the other two philosophies, but he is taught to execrate them as barbarous outrages upon morality and common sense.
From "1984" by George Orwell
The orchestral poem of Pelléas et Mélisande I have yet to enjoy or execrate; there seems to be no middle term for Schoenberg's amazing art.
From Ivory Apes and Peacocks by Huneker, James
To devote to destruction; to imprecate misery or evil upon; to curse; to execrate; to anathematize.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Webster, Noah
That she had committed a technical offence is undeniable; but so did Andreas Hofer and other victims of Napoleonic tyranny whose doom patriotic Germans never cease to execrate.
From A Noble Woman The Life-Story of Edith Cavell by Protheroe, Ernest
Let other states think what they will of it, there is one reason why every Pennsylvanian should execrate this imposition upon mankind.
From Essays on the Constitution of the United States by Ford, Paul Leicester
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
