execrable
adjective
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He or she who is cursed faces execrable conditions. Keep this in mind to remember that execrable is a descendant of the Latin verb exsecrari, meaning "to put under a curse." Since its earliest uses in English, beginning in the 14th century, execrable has meant "deserving or fit to be execrated," the reference being to things so abominable as to be worthy of formal denouncement (such as "execrable crimes"). But in the 19th century we lightened it up a bit, and our "indescribably bad" sense has since been applied to everything from roads ("execrable London pavement" - Sir Walter Scott) to food ("The coffee in the station house was ... execrable." - Clarence Day) to, inevitably, the weather ("the execrable weather of the past fortnight" - The (London) Evening Standard).
Synonyms
Examples of execrable in a Sentence
Elbridge Colby, Foreign Affairs, 4 Sep. 2020
The viral, execrable Willy Wonka Experience in Glasgow may have closed up shop, but it’s not forgotten.
—Bethy Squires, Vulture, 7 Apr. 2024
In recent months, those online debates have grown coarse and self-righteous, thanks to an unfortunate lyrical shift towards fellating his own male id on Her Loss, his pathetically execrable collaboration from last year with 21 Savage.
—Mosi Reeves, Rolling Stone, 6 Oct. 2023
The working conditions in those factories, often staffed by children, were execrable; the horror stories that emerged, of mangled limbs and bodies, eventually helped encourage reform.
—Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 26 Sep. 2023
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Dictionary Entries Near execrable
Cite this Entry
“Execrable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/execrable. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.
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execrable
adjective
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