different between imprecate vs imprecation

English

Etymology

From Latin imprecari (“to invoke (good or evil) upon, pray to, call upon”), from in (“upon”) + precari (“to pray”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??mp??ke?t/

Verb

imprecate (third-person singular simple present imprecates, present participle imprecating, simple past and past participle imprecated)

1. (transitive) To call down by prayer, as something hurtful or calamitous.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 119

     To sailors, oaths are household words; they will swear in the trance of the calm, and in the teeth of the tempest; they will imprecate curses from the topsail-yard-arms, when most they teeter over to a seething sea; [...]

Related terms

• imprecation

Translations

Further reading

• imprecate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• imprecate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• imprecate at OneLook Dictionary Search

Italian

Verb

imprecate

1. inflection of imprecare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative
2. feminine plural of imprecato

Latin

Participle

imprec?te

1. vocative masculine singular of imprec?tus

English

Etymology

From Latin imprec?ti? (“calling down of curses”), from imprecor (“call down, invoke”), from in- (“towards”) + precor (“pray”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /??m.p???ke?.??n/, /??m.p???ke?.??n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

imprecation (countable and uncountable, plural imprecations)

1. The act of imprecating, or invoking evil upon someone; a prayer that a curse or calamity may befall someone.
   • 1893, Stephen Crane, Maggie, Girl of the Streets, ch. 10:

     Her son turned to look at her as she reeled and swayed in the middle of the room, her fierce face convulsed with passion, her blotched arms raised high in imprecation. "May Gawd curse her forever," she shrieked.

2. A curse.
   • 1839, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. 3:

     Mr. Gamfield growled a fierce imprecation on the donkey generally, but more particularly on his eyes; and, running after him, bestowed a blow on his head.

   • 1847, Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, chapter V:

     He drank the spirits and impatiently bade us go; terminating his command with a sequel of horrid imprecations too bad to repeat or remember.

Related terms

Translations

See also

• Article on “imprecation” on Wordmall

Anagrams

• reimpaction