imprecate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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(intr) to swear, curse, or blaspheme
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(tr) to invoke or bring down (evil, a curse, etc)
to imprecate disaster on the ship
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(tr) to put a curse on
Other Word Forms
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; see origin at im- 1, pray, -ate 1
Explanation
To imprecate is to deliver a curse or verbally attack someone. You might imprecate a curse against a rival sports team, or even against a sibling. The verb imprecate is an old-fashioned way to say "curse," meaning either to wish harm or evil on someone, or simply to swear at them. If you're mad enough to say, "Curse you!" or "May your bed be full of fleas!" when your brother annoys you, you imprecate him. The Latin root is imprecationem, "an invoking of evil," from imprecari, "invoke or call down upon."
Vocabulary lists containing imprecate
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.
See Examples For:
"Swear!" he said: "imprecate a curse upon thyself if thou hast said anything untrue to save thy master."
From The Childhood of King Erik Menved An Historical Romance by Bernhard Severin Ingemann
But now there is scarcely a tongue in all New England that does not imprecate curses on his name.
From Grandfather's Chair by Nathaniel Hawthorne
To be a thorough expert in dog-training a man must be able to imprecate freely and with considerable variety in at least three different languages.
From The Great Lone Land A Narrative of Travel and Adventure in the North-West of America by William Francis Butler
To devote to destruction; to imprecate misery or evil upon; to curse; to execrate; to anathematize.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Noah Webster
But now, there is scarcely a tongue in all New England that does not imprecate curses on his name.
From True Stories of History and Biography by Nathaniel Hawthorne
He, with unabashed forehead, imprecated on his own head all evil here and hereafter if he was guilty.
From The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 2 by Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay
"Out upon a prayer who imprecated our parting!"
From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 08 by Sir Richard Francis Burton
If then this man was Laius, he had imprecated a curse on himself; his one hope is the solitary survivor whom he had sent for; perhaps more than one man had killed Laius after all.
From Authors of Greece by T. W. Lumb
Should we grant that Moses here imprecated on himself the greatest evil, a sense of other people's sins, and not a sense of his own sins, was the occasion.
From Sermons on Various Important Subjects by Andrew Lee
Then turning towards his younger brothers, he imprecated a curse upon them if they should follow the example of their elder brethren.
From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 10, No. 269, August 18, 1827 by Various
He throws effort into this record, whining, yammering, imprecating, imitating himself fabulously.
From New York Times ● Sep. 19, 2011
Thousands of pleading, imprecating letters from cloak-and-suit men the country over forced him to change his mind.
From Time Magazine Archive
Bear witness, gods, you heard him bid me go; You, whom he mocked with imprecating vows Of promised faith!—I'll die; I will not bear it.
From The works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 05 by Sir Walter Scott
He peered down upon the head of the luckless nurse, mutely imprecating.
From The Secret Witness by George Gibbs
He was standing up, waving the loose ends of the reins about his head, and imprecating his horses into a gallop.
From Neighbours by Robert J. C. Stead
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.
