Boozer
08-02-05, 07:38PM
execrate • \EK-suh-krayt\ • verb
*1 : to declare to be evil or detestable : denounce
2 : to detest utterly
Example sentence:
The new governor publicly execrated corruption in all its forms, and promised that her administration would be beyond reproach.
Did you know?
To Latinists, there's nothing cryptic about the origins of "execrate"—the word derives from "exsecratus," the past participle of the Latin verb "exsecrari," meaning "to put under a curse." "Exsecrari" was itself created by combining the prefix "ex-" ("not") and the word "sacer" ("sacred"). "Sacer" is also an ancestor of such English words as "sacerdotal" ("relating to priests"), "sacral" ("holy, sacred"), "sacrifice," "sacrilege," and of course "sacred" itself. There's also "execration," which, true to its "exsecrari" roots, means "the act of cursing" or "the curse so uttered."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
You're on your own for a first one. :p
*1 : to declare to be evil or detestable : denounce
2 : to detest utterly
Example sentence:
The new governor publicly execrated corruption in all its forms, and promised that her administration would be beyond reproach.
Did you know?
To Latinists, there's nothing cryptic about the origins of "execrate"—the word derives from "exsecratus," the past participle of the Latin verb "exsecrari," meaning "to put under a curse." "Exsecrari" was itself created by combining the prefix "ex-" ("not") and the word "sacer" ("sacred"). "Sacer" is also an ancestor of such English words as "sacerdotal" ("relating to priests"), "sacral" ("holy, sacred"), "sacrifice," "sacrilege," and of course "sacred" itself. There's also "execration," which, true to its "exsecrari" roots, means "the act of cursing" or "the curse so uttered."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
You're on your own for a first one. :p