What does execrate mean?
To execrate is to regard something with intense loathing and often to express that feeling openly — through denunciation, condemnation, or outright cursing. The word carries a strongly negative, elevated register: it belongs to formal writing and literary prose rather than casual conversation. Its history explains its force. It derives from Latin exsecrari, meaning to swear a curse, formed on the verb sacrare, 'to make sacred'; to execrate was thus originally to devote an object or person to divine punishment. Over time the emphasis shifted from invoking supernatural curses toward expressing profound moral repugnance, so modern usage chiefly means 'to detest deeply.' Related derivatives preserve the older flavor: execrable describes something outrageously bad, while execration names both the act of cursing and the object of hatred. When a writer chooses execrate over ordinary words like hate or despise, the intent is rhetorical — to convey condemnation of unusual severity.
verbTo feel or express intense loathing for someone or something; also, to invoke an evil or a curse upon a person or thing.
- To feel or show intense hatred or loathing for a person or thing.
- To utter a curse against; to invoke evil upon.
"The dictator was execrated by generations of historians for his unspeakable cruelties."
"Villagers execrated the landlord who had evicted them without mercy."
"In his final speech, the senator execrated his accusers and their motives."
When you execrate something, you're literally calling down the sacred upon it — in ancient Rome that meant consigning it to the gods' wrath.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of execrate
Execrate comes from Latin exsecrari ('to curse, to call down imprecations'), formed from ex- plus sacrari/sacrare, derived from sacer, 'sacred' — literally to devote someone or something to divine vengeance. It passed into English via Latin learned usage in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century. The same root sacer underlies words such as consecrate, desecrate, sacrifice, and sacrament.
Related word forms
How execrate is actually used
A formal, literary word; in everyday speech it is rare and may sound stilted or archaic. Its second sense, invoking a curse, is now largely historical and appears mainly in older literature.
Easily confused with execrate
Excrete means to discharge waste matter from the body, whereas execrate means to loathe intensely or to curse.