to imprecate
- verb
- /ˈɪmprɪˌkeɪt/
- Offensive
- In the film, Wolfe imprecates against Perkins in this vein: "You're nothing but a coward."
Examples
-
During the argument, she loudly imprecated him, wishing he would fail in all his endeavors.
-
Epidemics came and went, imprecated by both but touched by neither.
Blog text (28) -
"Very quiet now," Field imprecated in a fierce whisper.
Fiction book (1990) -
In a moment of anger, she imprecated her neighbor for constantly making noise at night.
-
He imprecated a curse on the team that lost the important game.
Synonyms
To wish harm on someone using magic
To wish bad things to happen to someone by calling on a magic power
To wish bad things to happen to someone
To strongly hate and say someone or something is very bad
To wish harm or bad luck on someone
To wish harm or a curse on someone
To say in public that someone or something is evil and should be avoided
To threaten someone with God's punishment or say they are cursed
Antonyms
How Hostile
Surface Forms
Morphology
imprecate = precate (opaque) = im + precate
The base 'precate' is not a familiar or productive word in modern English, making the derivation opaque.
Etymology
The word imprecate comes from the Latin parts in- 'upon' and precari 'to pray', like the English word 'pray', so to imprecate is to 'pray upon' someone, that is, to ask for harm or a curse to come to them.