Make Your Point > Archived Issues > EXECRATE
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I am not a good cook, y'all. As my dad will tell you, I once microwaved an innocent bagel into an execrable rock.
Which I bring up because the word execrable is such a fun and hyperbolic alternative to more workaday words like vile, foul, hateful, and detestable. For example: "I admit that my cooking is execrable. You won't offend me by execrating it."
Execrate literally means "to devote away," and it shares a Latin root with other holy, devotional words, like sacred, sacrifice, sacrilege, consecrate, sa_____nct ("very holy, or so great that you can't even criticize it"), and sanc______ous ("annoyingly pretending to be holy or perfect").
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
make your point with...
"EXECRATE"
Inside this word, you can almost hear the bits "ex" and "sacred." (If you're not hearing the "sacred" bit, imagine the spelling is a little different: "exsecrate.")
In Latin, ex means "out" and sacrare means "to devote to." Combining those, you get the Latin execrari: literally "to devote away," but figuratively "to curse" or "to hate." This execrari is the source of our word "execrate."
To execrate things or people is to hate them, or to express your hatred of them, usually in a deep, bitter way, as if you're cursing them for being evil.
Pronunciation:
ECK sih crate
Part of speech:
Verb, usually the transitive kind: "he execrated her," "they execrated his theories."
Other forms that can come in handy:
The common ones are "execrated," "execrating," and "execration" (meaning "a curse that you say, or the act of saying a curse, or an intense hatred").
We've also got "execrable" ("terrible, deserving of curses"), and its related noun "execrableness," as well as the adjectives "execrative" and "execratory," both meaning "expressing curses."
How to use it:
This word is harsh and formal, with a tone that's bookish and churchy.
Talk about people execrating things and other people, whether or not the target of the execration deserves it. "He execrates the media on Twitter." "The DARE program execrates drug abuse of any kind." "Literary critics take a vicious joy in execrating his casual poetry."
You could also talk about execrating someone as something ("the move was execrated as profoundly stupid"), or talk about execrating someone for something ("the staff execrated her for that profoundly stupid move").
A particularly handy adjective is "execrated," or "much-hated, often-cursed." You might talk about an execrated company, an execrated political decision, something's execrated name or label, someone's execrated memory or legacy, etc.
examples:
"Pastor Betha has been adored by some of his followers and execrated by others as corrupt. Nevertheless, his ministry powers on."
— Rizoh, Houston Press, 3 February 2011
"And never were wit, drollery, humor, irony, and sarcasm, rained down upon [English laws known as 'test acts,' requiring religious tests for public officers] in greater variety or rarer quality. He fairly drowned the High Church party in their own absurdities. His ten letters...are the very effervescence of ridicule. They will be read when test acts are remembered only to be execrated."
— Henry B. Stanton, Reforms and Reformers, 1850
has this page helped you understand "execrate"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "execrate" without saying "curse" or "abhor."
try it out:
Sometimes, we hate what we misunderstand.
Fill in the blanks: "(A certain group of people) execrate _____, which supposedly involves _____."
Example: "Americans execrate 'outsourcing,' which supposedly involves sending 'American jobs' overseas." --George Will, paraphrasing John Tamny, Washington Post, 25 March 2015
before you review, play:
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
This month, we're playing "What's the Word?"
On Reddit, r/whatstheword is a community of about 55,000 members: folks who gather to help each other out when they can't think of a particular word. "It's on the tip of my tongue," they say. Or, "This word might not even exist. Help!"
In each issue this month, check out a post from the community, and see if you can come up with the word or phrase in question. We'll work our way from relatively easy to extremely hard questions as the month goes on.
From the previous issue: A community member asked, "What's the word for the uncomfortableness you feel when someone is doing/going overboard for you? Quite common word in Asian countries. Example: when you’ve finished eating at someone’s house, he/she is cleaning your dishes for you. You feel uncomfortable because he/she is cleaning the dishes that you messed up. Or when someone is continually doing something for you without you doing something for him/her back. But you feel sorryish, and you wish you could do something in return but just can’t yet."
Answer: The best answers included "beholdenness" and "indebtedness."
Try this today: A community member asked, "What's the word for when you get really into doing something that is slightly challenging and then 6 hours go by but it only felt like 15 minutes?"
I'll share the answer in the upcoming issue, but if you can't wait, you can view the whole original thread here.
review this word:
1. A near opposite of EXECRATED is
A. EMITTED.
B. EXALTED.
C. ERODED.
2. Citing an example of _____ in Thailand, Liz Boulter points out that the locals who tend to the performing elephants are "execrably _____."
A. human misery .. paid
B. conservation .. informed
C. ecotourism .. sought after
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
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Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
I am not a good cook, y'all. As my dad will tell you, I once microwaved an innocent bagel into an execrable rock.
"EXECRATE" Inside this word, you can almost hear the bits "ex" and "sacred." (If you're not hearing the "sacred" bit, imagine the spelling is a little different: "exsecrate.")
"Pastor Betha has been adored by some of his followers and execrated by others as corrupt. Nevertheless, his ministry powers on."
Explain the meaning of "execrate" without saying "curse" or "abhor."
Sometimes, we hate what we misunderstand.
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
1. A near opposite of EXECRATED is
|