execrate

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To feel loathing for; to abhor.
   • 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:

     Yet she appeared confident in innocence, and did not tremble, although gazed on and execrated by thousands ; […]

   • 1932, Edwin Arlington Robinson, “Prodigal Son”, in Nicodemus, page 66:

     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.

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, page 109:

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

Derived terms

• execrable
• execration
• execrative
• execrator
• execratory
• unexecrated

Related terms

etymologically related

• consecrate
• desecrate

Translations

to feel loathing for

• Bulgarian: отвращавам се (otvraštavam se)
• French: exécrer (fr)
• German: verabscheuen (de)
• Latin: exsecror
• Polish: nienawidzić (pl) impf
• Spanish: execrar (es)

to declare to be hateful or abhorrent; denounce

• Bulgarian: ненавиждам (bg) (nenaviždam)
• Latin: exsecror
• Polish: pomstować impf, złorzeczyć (pl) impf
• Spanish: execrar (es)

(archaic) to invoke a curse

• Bulgarian: проклинам (bg) (proklinam)
• Polish: przeklinać (pl) impf, przekląć (pl) pf

Further reading

• “execrate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “execrate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “execrate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “execrate”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• excreate, excetera, ex cetera

Latin

Participle

execrāte

1. vocative masculine singular of execrātus

Spanish

Verb

execrate

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