execrate

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛɡzɪkɹeɪt/, /ˈɛksɪkɹeɪt/

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execrate (third-person singular simple present execrates, present participle execrating, simple past and past participle execrated)

1. (transitive) to feel loathing for; to abhor
   • 1932, Edwin Arlington Robinson, “Prodigal Son”, in Nicodemus:

     And were I not a thing for you and me
     To execrate in angish, you would be
     As indigent a stranger to surprise,
     I fear, as I was once, and as unwise.

2. (transitive) to declare to be hateful or abhorrent; to denounce

   Synonyms: anathematize, comminate, curse, damn, imprecate, maledict, obdurate

3. (intransitive, archaic) to invoke a curse; to curse or swear
   • 1904–1907 (date written), James Joyce, “Counterparts”, in Dubliners, London: Grant Richards, published June 1914, →OCLC:

     He longed to execrate aloud, to bring his fist down on something violently.

• “execrate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “execrate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “execrate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “execrate”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

• excreate, excetera, ex cetera

execrāte

1. vocative masculine singular of execrātus

execrate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of execrar combined with te