different between precation vs imprecation

English

Noun

precation (countable and uncountable, plural precations)

1. (rare) A prayer or act of praying; an earnest request.
   • 1881, Richard Watson Dixon, History of the Church of England, Vol. 2, Routledge, p. 431:

     The Litany […] was ordered to be sung immediately before High Mass, by the priests "with others of the choir" […] and this solemn form of precation, like so many other things, assumed the livery of uniformity.

   • 1893, Charles P. G. Scott, "English Words Which Hav Gaind or Lost an Initial Consonant by Attraction," Transactions of the American Philological Association, vol. 24, p. 123:

     The full form of the precation was God give you a good even.

   • 1996, J. L. Styan, The English Stage, ?ISBN, pp. xiii–xiv:

     The present inquiry therefore aims to pay more than lipservice to the notion of drama as performance, and to make more than a gesture towards the idea of theatre as a composite art, one that mixes music and mime, dance and song, painting and design, poetry and narrative, and much else. It is precation and response, and seeks out evidence of the manipulation of the audience and its powers of perception.

Derived terms

• precative
• precatory

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.

Anagrams

• captioner, pre-action, preaction, recaption

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