imprecation
UK/.impri'keiʃәn/US
GREC2
Definitions
n.
A spoken curse; the act of calling down harm or evil upon someone.
诅咒；把祸患、恶事召唤到某人头上的行为。
Root Breakdown
Root-derivedim- (here "upon, against") + prec (pray) + -ation (act of) = "the act of praying upon someone" — but praying for evil. An imprecation is a curse. It is the dark mirror of deprecate: deprecate prays the bad thing away, an imprecation prays it onto you. Same act of prayer, opposite intent.
Root prec still carries 4 more wordsCommon Collocations
- 1.hurl imprecations破口大骂
- 2.mutter imprecations低声咒骂
- 3.a stream of imprecations一连串的咒骂
Example Sentences
- 1.
The old sailor muttered imprecations against the storm that had wrecked his boat.
- 2.
She hurled imprecations at the driver who had nearly run her over.
- 3.
His speech ended not with a blessing but with a bitter imprecation.