imprecate
/ˈɪmpɹəkeɪt/ verb
Forms imprecates imprecating imprecated
- verb (transitive) To call down by prayer, as something hurtful or calamitous.
Synonyms
curse beshrew damn bedamn anathemize anathemise maledict cuss blaspheme swear
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin imprecātus, perfect active participle of imprecor (“to invoke (good or evil) upon, pray to, call upon”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from in- (“upon”) + precor (“to pray”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To call down by prayer, as something hurtful or calamitous.
- verb To invoke evil upon; to curse; to swear at. In vain we blast the ministers of Fate, And the forlorn physicians imprecate. Rochester.
Etymology [L. imprecatus, p. p. of imprecari to imprecate; pref. im- in, on + precari to pray. See Pray.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “imprecate”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details