"imprecate" meaning in English

See imprecate in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /ˈɪmpɹəkeɪt/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-imprecate.wav [Southern-England] Forms: imprecates [present, singular, third-person], imprecating [participle, present], imprecated [participle, past], imprecated [past]
Etymology: Borrowed from Latin imprecātus, perfect active participle of imprecor (“to invoke (good or evil) upon, pray to, call upon”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from in- (“upon”) + precor (“to pray”). Etymology templates: {{root|en|ine-pro|*preḱ-}}, {{bor+|en|la|imprecātus}} Borrowed from Latin imprecātus, {{glossary|perfect}} perfect, {{glossary|active}} active, {{glossary|participle}} participle, {{af|en|-ate|id1=verb|pos1=verb-forming suffix}} -ate (verb-forming suffix) Head templates: {{en-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. Tags: transitive Derived forms: imprecatingly, imprecator Related terms: imprecation, imprecatory Translations (to call down by prayer): проклинам (proklinam) (Bulgarian), manata (Finnish), kirota (Finnish), لعنتلمك (laʼnetlemek) (Ottoman Turkish), złorzeczyć [imperfective] (Polish), przekląć [perfective] (Polish), проклина́ть (proklinátʹ) [imperfective] (Russian), imprecar (Spanish) Translations (to invoke evil upon): пожелавам зло (poželavam zlo) (Bulgarian), manata (Finnish), kirota (Finnish), imprecor (Latin), exsecror (Latin), imprecar (Occitan), escomenjar (Occitan), لعنتلمك (laʼnetlemek) (Ottoman Turkish), przeklinać [imperfective] (Polish), przekląć [perfective] (Polish), проклина́ть (proklinátʹ) [imperfective] (Russian), imprecar (Spanish)

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_links": [
    [
      "imprecātus",
      "imprecatus#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "imprecor",
      "imprecor#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "-ate",
      "-ate#English:_verb"
    ],
    [
      "in-",
      "in-#Latin:_in"
    ],
    [
      "precor",
      "precor#Latin"
    ]
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*preḱ-"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "imprecātus"
      },
      "expansion": "Borrowed from Latin imprecātus",
      "name": "bor+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "perfect"
      },
      "expansion": "perfect",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "active"
      },
      "expansion": "active",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "participle"
      },
      "expansion": "participle",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "-ate",
        "id1": "verb",
        "pos1": "verb-forming suffix"
      },
      "expansion": "-ate (verb-forming suffix)",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Latin imprecātus, perfect active participle of imprecor (“to invoke (good or evil) upon, pray to, call upon”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from in- (“upon”) + precor (“to pray”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "imprecates",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "imprecating",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "imprecated",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "imprecated",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "imprecate (third-person singular simple present imprecates, present participle imprecating, simple past and past participle imprecated)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -ate (verb)",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 4 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Bulgarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Latin translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Occitan translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Ottoman Turkish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "imprecatingly"
        },
        {
          "word": "imprecator"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              125,
              134
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 119”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:",
          "text": "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; [...]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To call down by prayer, as something hurtful or calamitous."
      ],
      "id": "en-imprecate-en-verb-xEAsAgcP",
      "links": [
        [
          "call down",
          "call down"
        ],
        [
          "prayer",
          "prayer"
        ],
        [
          "hurtful",
          "hurtful"
        ],
        [
          "calamitous",
          "calamitous"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To call down by prayer, as something hurtful or calamitous."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "imprecation"
        },
        {
          "word": "imprecatory"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "lang_code": "bg",
          "roman": "proklinam",
          "sense": "to call down by prayer",
          "word": "проклинам"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "to call down by prayer",
          "word": "manata"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "to call down by prayer",
          "word": "kirota"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "to call down by prayer",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "złorzeczyć"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "to call down by prayer",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "przekląć"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "proklinátʹ",
          "sense": "to call down by prayer",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "проклина́ть"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to call down by prayer",
          "word": "imprecar"
        },
        {
          "code": "ota",
          "lang": "Ottoman Turkish",
          "lang_code": "ota",
          "roman": "laʼnetlemek",
          "sense": "to call down by prayer",
          "word": "لعنتلمك"
        },
        {
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "lang_code": "bg",
          "roman": "poželavam zlo",
          "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
          "word": "пожелавам зло"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
          "word": "manata"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
          "word": "kirota"
        },
        {
          "code": "la",
          "lang": "Latin",
          "lang_code": "la",
          "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
          "word": "imprecor"
        },
        {
          "code": "la",
          "lang": "Latin",
          "lang_code": "la",
          "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
          "word": "exsecror"
        },
        {
          "code": "oc",
          "lang": "Occitan",
          "lang_code": "oc",
          "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
          "word": "imprecar"
        },
        {
          "code": "oc",
          "lang": "Occitan",
          "lang_code": "oc",
          "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
          "word": "escomenjar"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "przeklinać"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "przekląć"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "proklinátʹ",
          "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "проклина́ть"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
          "word": "imprecar"
        },
        {
          "code": "ota",
          "lang": "Ottoman Turkish",
          "lang_code": "ota",
          "roman": "laʼnetlemek",
          "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
          "word": "لعنتلمك"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɪmpɹəkeɪt/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-imprecate.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/36/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-imprecate.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-imprecate.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/36/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-imprecate.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-imprecate.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "imprecate"
}
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "imprecatingly"
    },
    {
      "word": "imprecator"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_links": [
    [
      "imprecātus",
      "imprecatus#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "imprecor",
      "imprecor#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "-ate",
      "-ate#English:_verb"
    ],
    [
      "in-",
      "in-#Latin:_in"
    ],
    [
      "precor",
      "precor#Latin"
    ]
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*preḱ-"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "imprecātus"
      },
      "expansion": "Borrowed from Latin imprecātus",
      "name": "bor+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "perfect"
      },
      "expansion": "perfect",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "active"
      },
      "expansion": "active",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "participle"
      },
      "expansion": "participle",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "-ate",
        "id1": "verb",
        "pos1": "verb-forming suffix"
      },
      "expansion": "-ate (verb-forming suffix)",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Latin imprecātus, perfect active participle of imprecor (“to invoke (good or evil) upon, pray to, call upon”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from in- (“upon”) + precor (“to pray”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "imprecates",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "imprecating",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "imprecated",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "imprecated",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "imprecate (third-person singular simple present imprecates, present participle imprecating, simple past and past participle imprecated)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "imprecation"
    },
    {
      "word": "imprecatory"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English terms borrowed from Latin",
        "English terms derived from Latin",
        "English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
        "English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *preḱ-",
        "English terms suffixed with -ate (verb)",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 4 entries",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Bulgarian translations",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with Latin translations",
        "Terms with Occitan translations",
        "Terms with Ottoman Turkish translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations",
        "Terms with Spanish translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              125,
              134
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 119”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:",
          "text": "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; [...]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To call down by prayer, as something hurtful or calamitous."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "call down",
          "call down"
        ],
        [
          "prayer",
          "prayer"
        ],
        [
          "hurtful",
          "hurtful"
        ],
        [
          "calamitous",
          "calamitous"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To call down by prayer, as something hurtful or calamitous."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɪmpɹəkeɪt/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-imprecate.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/36/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-imprecate.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-imprecate.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/36/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-imprecate.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-imprecate.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "lang_code": "bg",
      "roman": "proklinam",
      "sense": "to call down by prayer",
      "word": "проклинам"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "to call down by prayer",
      "word": "manata"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "to call down by prayer",
      "word": "kirota"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "to call down by prayer",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "złorzeczyć"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "to call down by prayer",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "przekląć"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "proklinátʹ",
      "sense": "to call down by prayer",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "проклина́ть"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to call down by prayer",
      "word": "imprecar"
    },
    {
      "code": "ota",
      "lang": "Ottoman Turkish",
      "lang_code": "ota",
      "roman": "laʼnetlemek",
      "sense": "to call down by prayer",
      "word": "لعنتلمك"
    },
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "lang_code": "bg",
      "roman": "poželavam zlo",
      "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
      "word": "пожелавам зло"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
      "word": "manata"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
      "word": "kirota"
    },
    {
      "code": "la",
      "lang": "Latin",
      "lang_code": "la",
      "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
      "word": "imprecor"
    },
    {
      "code": "la",
      "lang": "Latin",
      "lang_code": "la",
      "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
      "word": "exsecror"
    },
    {
      "code": "oc",
      "lang": "Occitan",
      "lang_code": "oc",
      "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
      "word": "imprecar"
    },
    {
      "code": "oc",
      "lang": "Occitan",
      "lang_code": "oc",
      "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
      "word": "escomenjar"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "przeklinać"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "przekląć"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "proklinátʹ",
      "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "проклина́ть"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
      "word": "imprecar"
    },
    {
      "code": "ota",
      "lang": "Ottoman Turkish",
      "lang_code": "ota",
      "roman": "laʼnetlemek",
      "sense": "to invoke evil upon",
      "word": "لعنتلمك"
    }
  ],
  "word": "imprecate"
}

Download raw JSONL data for imprecate meaning in English (6.1kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-10-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (1a05e46 and e3d6d4e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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