Dictionary

execrate en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˈɛksɪkɹeɪt/
• /ˈɛɡzɪkɹeɪt/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Latin exsecrārī, execrārī, from ex (“out”) + sacrāre (“to consecrate, declare accursed”).

Meanings

1. (transitive) To feel loathing for; to abhor.
   • Yet she appeared confident in innocence, and did not tremble, although gazed on and execrated by thousands ; […] 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter VII, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 161:
   • And were I not a thing for you and me To execrate in anguish, you would be As indigent a stranger to surprise, I fear, as I was once, and as unwise. 1932, Edwin Arlington Robinson, “Prodigal Son”, in Nicodemus, page 66:
2. (transitive) To declare to be hateful or abhorrent; to denounce.
3. (archaic, intransitive) To invoke a curse; to curse or swear.
   • He longed to execrate aloud, to bring his fist down on something violently. 1904–1907 (date written), James Joyce, “Counterparts”, in Dubliners, London: Grant Richards, published June 1914, →OCLC, page 109:

Forms

Deriveds

unexecrated · execratory · execrator · execrative · execration · execrable

Relateds

consecrate (etymologically related) · desecrate (etymologically related)

Synonyms

curse · maledict · damn · imprecate · comminate · anathematize · obdurate

Translations (14)

pl nienawidzić (to feel loathing for) · es execrar (to declare to be hateful or abhorrent; denounce) · pl złorzeczyć (to declare to be hateful or abhorrent; denounce) · la exsecror (to feel loathing for) · de verabscheuen (to feel loathing for) · bg проклинам ((archaic) to invoke a curse) · bg ненавиждам (to declare to be hateful or abhorrent; denounce) · bg отвращавам се (to feel loathing for) · pl przekląć ((archaic) to invoke a curse) · pl przeklinać ((archaic) to invoke a curse) · pl pomstować (to declare to be hateful or abhorrent; denounce) · la exsecror (to declare to be hateful or abhorrent; denounce) · es execrar (to feel loathing for) · fr exécrer (to feel loathing for)