execrable

See also: exécrable

English

Etymology

From Old French execrable, from Latin execrabilis.

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈɛksɪkɹəbl/, /ˈɛksəkɹəbl/, /ˈɛkskɹəbl/
    Audio (US):(file)

Adjective

execrable (comparative more execrable, superlative most execrable)

  1. Of the poorest quality.
    • 1998 September 24, Carmen Callil, quotee, “The scene is set for the Booker battle”, in BBC News‎[1]:
      Carmen Callil, a Booker Prize judge in 1996, said on television that The God of Small Things was an "execrable" book. One Guardian journalist described the whole contest as "profoundly depressing".
    • 2024 August 5, G. S. Hans, “Law Professors Can’t Keep Carrying Water For the Supreme Court”, in Balls and Strikes‎[2]:
      As execrable as the Supreme Court’s decisions have been, they are of a piece with the conservative rulings from lower court judges who see no issue with laundering a revanchist policy agenda through contorted rulings.
  2. Hateful, disgusting.
    • 1779 March 27, Thomas Jefferson, “To Patrick Henry”, in National Archives‎[3]:
      But is an enemy so execrable, that, though in captivity, his wishes and comforts are to be disregarded and even crossed? I think not. It is for the benefit of mankind to mitigate the horrors of war as much as possible.
    • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Three. The Second of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 112:
      But when at last, he caught her; when, in spite of all her silken rustlings, and her rapid flutterings past him, he got her into a corner whence there was no escape; then his conduct was the most execrable.
    • 2001 June 1, David Langford with John Grant, Guts: A Comedy of Manners, Wildside Press, →ISBN, page 72:
      The arcanely evil words of that despicable, loathsome, suppressed, vile, pululating [sic], odious, nictating, repellent, repugnant, noxious, abhorrent, abominable, tory, execrable, nauseous work, Ye Boke of Guts, moved as if on a conveyor belt before his eyes.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Collocations

with nouns
  • execrable taste
  • execrable road
  • execrable crime
  • execrable murder
  • execrable thing

Translations

Catalan

Etymology

    Learned borrowing from Latin exsecrābilis.

    Pronunciation

    Adjective

    execrable m or f (masculine and feminine plural execrables)

    1. execrable

    Further reading

    Spanish

    Etymology

      Learned borrowing from Latin execrābilis.

      Pronunciation

      • IPA(key): /eɡseˈkɾable/ [eɣ̞.seˈkɾa.β̞le]
      • Rhymes: -able
      • Syllabification: e‧xe‧cra‧ble

      Adjective

      execrable m or f (masculine and feminine plural execrables)

      1. execrable

      Further reading

      This page is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.