Synonyms
Examples of accursed in a Sentence
Keaton Patti, The New Yorker, 16 Aug. 2019
The others have tried to forget all about it, and have managed to put some distance between themselves and their accursed hometown.
—New York Times, 3 Sep. 2019
Then from each black, accursed mouth The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on Earth, goodwill to men!
—Anchorage Daily News, 23 Dec. 2017
Earlier this year the accursed Queen Elizabeth of England imposed Protestantism on her wretched subjects, who are now deprived of the consolation of the sacraments.
—Erik Spanberg, The Christian Science Monitor, 12 Sep. 2017
And the Republican establishment, which loathes him, eggs them on, hoping to be rid of their mad, accursed priest.
—John Kass, Twin Cities, 1 June 2017
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'accursed.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Middle English acursed, from past participle of acursen "to consign to destruction with a curse," going back to Old English acursian, from a-, perfective prefix + cursian "to curse entry 2" — more at abide
Note: The verb acursian is attested once in late Old English (glosses to the Salisbury Psalter, added in 1100 or sometime thereafter). The prefix a- may rather be a reduced form of on- than the old perfective prefix. In the 16th century spellings with initial acc- intrude, as if the word were a Romance or Latin formation with the prefix ad-.
13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Dictionary Entries Near accursed
Cite this Entry
“Accursed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accursed. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.
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Britannica English: Translation of accursed for Arabic Speakers
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