execrate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to detest utterly; abhor; abominate.
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to curse; imprecate evil upon; damn; denounce.
He execrated all who opposed him.
verb (used without object)
verb
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(tr) to loathe; detest; abhor
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(tr) to profess great abhorrence for; denounce; deplore
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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; see 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
I despise it, and I execrate a tyrant wherever he may be, and in every country where the people are struggling for the right of self-government I sympathize with them in their struggle.
From The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 8 (of 12) Dresden Edition?Political by Ingersoll, Robert Green
They were of no more account than the rest of the excited populace that knew Davis but to execrate him.
From The Boys of '61 or, Four Years of Fighting, Personal Observations with the Army and Navy by Coffin, Charles Carleton
He knew that many would justly execrate his name until the end.
From Peccavi by Hornung, E. W. (Ernest William)
It may well be that sixty more will execrate it.
From Naples Past and Present by Norway, Arthur H.
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.
