imprecate means to call down by prayer, as something hurtful or calamitous. It carries an Arena rating of 1648, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, imprecate ranks #811 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #1,676 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #2,967 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #3,463 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words.
imprecate is pronounced /ˈɪmpɹəkeɪt/.
Why “imprecate” is a great word
To invoke or call down evil, a curse, or calamity upon someone or something by appeal to a higher power. From the Latin *imprecatus*, past participle of *imprecari* (“to invoke, pray to or against”), from *in-* (“upon, against”) + *precari* (“to pray, ask, entreat”); first recorded in English use 1605–15. Unlike the general, often colloquial “curse,” or the beneficent “bless” from which it draws its opposite structure, to imprecate is to weaponize a plea, to fold malice into the syntax of supplication. It is the hissed prayer in the shadowed chapel, the ritualized venom of a betrayed king, and the silent, structured hatred of one who believes their grievance merits cosmic endorsement—a solemn conviction that some wounds are only answered by the architecture of a curse.
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”).
verb
- To call down by prayer, as something hurtful or calamitous.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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