execrable
Americanadjective
-
utterly detestable; abominable; abhorrent.
-
very bad.
an execrable stage performance.
adjective
-
deserving to be execrated; abhorrent
-
of very poor quality
an execrable meal
Other Word Forms
- execrableness noun
- execrably adverb
Etymology
Origin of execrable
1350–1400 for earlier sense “expressing a curse”; 1480–90 execrable for def. 1; Middle English < Latin ex ( s ) ecrābilis accursed, detestable. See execrate, -able
Explanation
If something's execrable it's really and truly, unbelievably, absolutely the worst. Execrable is often used as a harshly critical term in the arts, when a reviewer really wants to throw the book at something. Not surprisingly, the word comes from a Latin word meaning "to utter a curse; to hate or abhor." Tough words for bad art. Perhaps part of the power and nastiness of execrable lies in the word's similarity to excrement — but that's a vocabulary word we're not touching in this entry!
Vocabulary lists containing execrable
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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"What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" by Frederick Douglass
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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.
I almost feel bad for him trying so pathetically to defend such an execrable entity like the Iranian regime.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 22, 2026
The video clip of team highlights over the decades, scored by the execrable Train song “Calling All Angels,” was longer than ever, and more desperate.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 19, 2024
And then not only took the case but issued this execrable ruling.
From Slate • Sep. 15, 2022
Her parents are absent or execrable, she has no friends, and every disappointment is “one more nail” in the coffin of Jade’s dreams.
From Washington Post • Aug. 30, 2021
“Within perhaps a week,” recalled a student, “there was on the blackboard in Robert Oppenheimer’s office a drawing—a very bad, an execrable drawing—of a bomb.”
From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
