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Jan 19, 2011
This week's theme
Verbs

This week's words
intromit
remonstrate
execrate
betide
expostulate

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

execrate

PRONUNCIATION:
(EK-si-krayt)

MEANING:
verb tr.: To detest, denounce, or curse.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin execrari (to curse), from ex- + sacrare (to consecrate). Ultimately from the Indo-European root sak- (to sanctify), which is also the source of other words such as saint, consecrate, sacred, execrable, and sacrilegious. Earliest documented use: 1561.

USAGE:
"[Edward Said was] adored or execrated with equal intensity by many millions of readers."
The Rootless Cosmopolitan; The Nation (New York); Jul 19, 2004.

See more usage examples of execrate in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Useless laws weaken the necessary laws. -Charles de Montesquieu, philosopher and writer (1689-1755)

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