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:
V. To curse, accurse, imprecate, scold, rail, execrate.
From Public Speaking by Stratton, Clarence
How often did I imprecate curses on the cause of my being!
From Frankenstein by Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft
There was nothing for him to resent, nothing for him to imprecate but his own folly.
From The Alaskan by Curwood, James Oliver
To devote to destruction; to imprecate misery or evil upon; to curse; to execrate; to anathematize.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary by Webster, Noah
Daughter, to thy father go back with good cheer; nor imprecate swift death upon us, nor let choler shake thy bosom.
From The Danish History, Books I-IX by Saxo, Grammaticus
He imprecated bitter curses on the palace where she died, and he ordered it to be destroyed.
From Richard II Makers of History by Abbott, Jacob
"Sapristi!" imprecated Maryan, and immediately he laughed again.
From The Argonauts by Curtin, Jeremiah
My father, in the first agitations of his mind, on discovering your wicked, your shameful elopement, imprecated on his knees a fearful curse upon you.
From Clarissa Harlowe; or the history of a young lady — Volume 3 by Richardson, Samuel
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 Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron
Those of you who were with Cambyses when sick remember what he imprecated on the Persians if they did not seek to regain the dominion.
From The History of Antiquity Vol. VI. (vol. VI. of VI.) by Duncker, Max
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
Voices were indeed occasionally heard invoking the blessings of the gods upon them, or imprecating curses upon the head of the scourge Aurelian.
From Zenobia or, the Fall of Palmyra by Ware, William
Space was wanted, and moreover its bony, imprecating arms, long since bereft of beckoning fingers, menaced our safety.
From My Tropic Isle by Banfield, E. J. (Edmund James)
He was standing up, waving the loose ends of the reins about his head, and imprecating his horses into a gallop.
From Neighbours by Stead, Robert J. C.
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.
