Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

malediction en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /ˌmæl.əˈdɪk.ʃən/
  • (US) audio
  • /-.ɪˈ-/

Etymology

From late Middle English malediccion, from Middle French malédiction, from Latin maledictiō (“curse”) from malus (“evil”) + dictiō (“speech”) noun of action from perfect passive participle dictus (“spoken”), from verb dīcō (“speak”).

Meanings

  1. (countable, uncountable) A curse.
    • [H]is friend, with great ebullience of paſſion, many praiſes of his own good play, and many maledictions on the power of chance, took up the cards, and threw them into the fire. 1771, [Henry Mackenzie], “His Skill in Physiognomy”, in The Man of Feeling, 2nd edition, London: Printed for T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 94:
    • In view of all that we have said in the foregoing sections, the many obstacles we appear to have surmounted, what casts the pall over our victory celebration? It is the curse of dimensionality, a malediction that has plagued the scientist from earliest days. 1961, Richard Bellman, Adaptive Control Processes: A Guided Tour, Princeton University Press, page 94:
  2. (countable, uncountable) Evil speech.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
maledictions Number=Plur lexicographic

Antonyms

benediction

Deriveds

maledictology

Relateds

maledictive · maledictory

Translations (12)

sh проклетство (evil speech) · fr malédiction (evil speech) · ru скверносло́вие (evil speech) · he לשון הרע (evil speech) · ru ру́гань (evil speech) · la maledictiō (evil speech) · sh prokletstvo (evil speech) · tr lanet (evil speech) · ru злосло́вие (evil speech) · ru поноше́ние (evil speech) · ota لعنت (evil speech) · es maldición (evil speech)