Meaning & use
execration
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountableliterary
An angry curse or loud expression of hatred directed at someone or something.
Grammar: Often used in the plural for a stream of angry words.
Patterns
- execration of someone
- hurl execrations at someone
The crowd answered the announcement with a roar of execration.
He muttered execrations under his breath as the printer jammed again.
The senator's speech drew nothing but execration from his old allies.
nouncountable or uncountableformal
Something or someone that is hated intensely and widely, or the condition of being despised in this way.
Grammar: Frequently follows an expression such as held in execration.
Patterns
- held in execration
- an object of execration
After the scandal, the manager was held in execration by the fans.
The tyrant became an object of execration across the country.
The name of the traitor passed into execration.
Word forms
| plural | execrations |
|---|
Common combinations
- object of execration
- The law became an object of execration among small-business owners.
- held in execration
- The company's former chief was held in execration by its workers.
- cries of execration
- Cries of execration met the referee's final decision.
- public execration
- The deceit brought public execration on the mayor.
- hurl execrations
- Protesters hurled execrations at the passing limousine.
Synonyms and how they differ
- curse
- A curse is the plain, everyday word for a wish of harm or an angry word, while execration sounds formal and stronger.
- abhorrence
- Abhorrence names the deep feeling of hatred, whereas execration usually describes the voiced expression of it.
- condemnation
- Condemnation is a firm, reasoned judgment against something, while execration is more emotional and angry.
- obloquy
- Obloquy stresses public shame and abuse that falls on someone, so it is more about reputation than a curse.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: execration or execution? execration or exaltation?
execration vs execution
Execution is the carrying out of a plan or sentence, and has nothing to do with cursing, despite the similar start.
execration vs exaltation
Exaltation is high praise, the opposite of the angry rejection in execration.
Practice
The dictator was an object of ______ to the people he had ruled so harshly.
Choose one answer.
Object of execration means someone intensely hated. Exaltation would mean praise, so it reverses the sense, and execution and exemption do not fit the phrase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “execration”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.