accursed
Americanadjective
-
under or subject to a curse; doomed
-
(prenominal) hateful; detestable; execrable
Other Word Forms
- accursedly adverb
- accursedness noun
Etymology
Origin of accursed
First recorded before 1000; Middle English acursed, Old English ācursod, past participle of ācursian; a- 3, curse
Explanation
Use accursed to describe something that's under a curse or spell — or just seems like it is. You might call your car accursed if it keeps mysteriously dying in the middle of the road for no apparent reason. An accursed house might be haunted by a spirit or under an evil spell, or you might describe it as accursed if unexplained things happen in it. You can also use the adjective simply to describe something you're angry about: "This accursed town! I can't wait to move to California!" In the 13th century, the word was acursede, "lying under a curse," from the now-obsolete acursen, "pronounce a curse upon."
Vocabulary lists containing accursed
Romeo and Juliet
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"The Tragedy of Macbeth," Vocabulary from Act 3
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Chapter 20: Renaissance and Reformation
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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.
Somehow, Kyle Shanahan keeps meeting his accursed fortune with a spirit of inquiry.
From Washington Post • Dec. 10, 2022
Even the most accursed teams have next season.
From Salon • Oct. 15, 2022
It is “at once an accursed and a sacred place,” American Jewish Committee CEO David Harris said.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 3, 2022
To read the play, to follow Oedipus’ trajectory from first of men to accursed outcast, is to confront the paradox of humanity’s breathtaking majesty and inescapable frailty.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2020
We, the accursed, didn’t even have words for swearing in!
From "Grendel" by John Gardner
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.
