imprecate

American  

[im-pri-keyt] / ˈɪm prɪˌkeɪt /

verb (used with object)

imprecated, imprecating

1. to invoke or call down (evil or curses), as upon a person.

   Synonyms:

   anathematize, execrate, curse, denunciate

   Antonyms:

   bless

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imprecate British  

/ ˈɪmprɪˌkeɪt /

verb

1. (intr) to swear, curse, or blaspheme

2. (tr) to invoke or bring down (evil, a curse, etc)

   to imprecate disaster on the ship

3. (tr) to put a curse on

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Other Word Forms

• imprecator noun
• imprecatory adjective
• unimprecated adjective

Etymology

Origin of imprecate

First recorded in 1605–15; from Latin imprecātus, past participle of imprecārī “to invoke, pray to or for,” equivalent to im- “in” + prec- “pray” + -ātus past participle suffix; im- ¹, pray, -ate ¹

Example Sentences

So they implore and imprecate, turning themselves into the ugliest and fiercest creatures they can, to frighten the evil spirits that they believe have come against them on the outspread wings of the storm.

From My Friends the Savages Notes and Observations of a Perak settler (Malay Peninsula) by Sanpietro, I. Stone

There was nothing for him to resent, nothing for him to imprecate but his own folly.

From The Alaskan by Curwood, James Oliver

He never made man after his own image to imprecate the wrath of heaven by blackening earth with his foul deeds.

From Our World, Or, the Slaveholder's Daughter by Adams, F. Colburn (Francis Colburn)

To imprecate evil on any living being seems to them unchristian, barbarous, a relic of dark ages and dark superstitions.

From Town and Country Sermons by Kingsley, Charles

O thou guileful betrayer! there is a just God, whom thou invokest: yet the thunderbolt descends not; and thou livest to imprecate and deceive!

From Clarissa Harlowe; or the history of a young lady — Volume 6 by Richardson, Samuel