imprecate
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
-
(intr) to swear, curse, or blaspheme
-
(tr) to invoke or bring down (evil, a curse, etc)
to imprecate disaster on the ship
-
(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:
Wherefore at once my faith, my hope, my fire My soul doth imprecate, ere she expire.
From The Decameron, Volume I by J. M. (James Macmullen) Rigg
"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
So they implore and imprecate, turning themselves into the ugliest and fiercest creatures they can, to frighten the evil spirits that they believe have come against them on the outspread wings of the storm.
From My Friends the Savages Notes and Observations of a Perak settler (Malay Peninsula) by I. Stone Sanpietro
O thou guileful betrayer! there is a just God, whom thou invokest: yet the thunderbolt descends not; and thou livest to imprecate and deceive!
From Clarissa Harlowe; or the history of a young lady — Volume 6 by Samuel Richardson
It bewailed the fallen honours of the Abencerrages, and imprecated vengeance on their oppressors.
From Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists by Washington Irving
In the station, men wept and imprecated in their despair; twice they tried to go to the rescue of the beleaguered men, but could not reach them.
From Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 15 by Various
That is to say, it is His enemies on whom the judgements are imprecated.
From St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Vol. II A Practical Exposition by Charles Gore
"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
He abstained from any violence to his wife and child, though he had imprecated many curses on the sons of Atreus: he neither hurt Teucer, nor even Ulysses himself.
From The Works of Horace by Horace
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
Maurice, conspicuous above all, with a white apron and a ladle in his hand, was running hither and thither, advising, admonishing, instructing, and occasionally imprecating.
From Charles O'Malley, The Irish Dragoon, Volume 2 by Charles James Lever
Mentally imprecating the cold, he exposed his bare hands and lighted another cigar.
From The Turtles of Tasman by Jack London
And sullenly, with stealthy gestures of menace, they retreated towards the entrance; and gabbling more loudly as they approached it, seemed to be imprecating vengeance on those who cast them out.
From The Abbess Of Vlaye by Stanley J. Weyman
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
