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execrable

/ˈɛksəkrəbəl/
/ˈɛksɪkrəbəl/
IPA guide

Other forms: execrably

If something's execrable it's really and truly, unbelievably, absolutely the worst.

Execrable is often used as a harshly critical term in the arts, when a reviewer really wants to throw the book at something. Not surprisingly, the word comes from a Latin word meaning "to utter a curse; to hate or abhor." Tough words for bad art. Perhaps part of the power and nastiness of execrable lies in the word's similarity to excrement — but that's a vocabulary word we're not touching in this entry!

Definitions of execrable
  1. adjective
    unequivocally detestable
    execrable crimes”
    hateful
    evoking or deserving hatred
  2. adjective
    of very poor quality or condition
    inferior
    of low or inferior quality
  3. adjective
    deserving a curse
    synonyms:
    cursed, curst
    deserving a curse; sometimes used as an intensifier
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