execrate

American  

[ek-si-kreyt] / ˈɛk sɪˌkreɪt /

verb (used with object)

execrated, execrating

1. to detest utterly; abhor; abominate.

2. to curse; imprecate evil upon; damn; denounce.

   He execrated all who opposed him.

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verb (used without object)

execrated, execrating

1. to utter curses.

execrate British  

/ ˈɛksɪˌkreɪt /

verb

1. (tr) to loathe; detest; abhor

2. (tr) to profess great abhorrence for; denounce; deplore

3. to curse (a person or thing); damn

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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

Example Sentences

This man they’d execrated and denounced had shocked the world—not just by being his shocking self but by winning; nobody expected him to win!—and yet from them this evoked no reaction.

From The New Yorker

Though the Democrats’ advantage over the GOP in voter identification is not particularly large — eight points, according to Gallup — 24 percent of Americans now accept the no-longer execrated label “liberal,” up seven points since 1992.

From Washington Post

They properly execrate Obama’s executive high-handedness that expresses progressivism’s traditional disdain for the separation of powers that often makes government action difficult.

From Washington Post

In a letter quoted by Shapreau, he execrated "the notorious questionnaire" whose inquiries he said included "'Are you of German blood, or kindred race, or non-Aryan?'"

From Los Angeles Times

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 Literature