Definition of EXECRABLE

Did You Know?

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).

Examples of execrable in a Sentence

Living conditions in the slums were execrable. her execrable singing finally brought a complaint from the neighbors

Recent Examples on the Web

There have been scores of books about India that focus on its poverty, some sensitive and soulful, others frankly execrable. — Tunku Varadarajan, WSJ, "‘The Billionaire Raj’ Review: Gatsby on the Ganges," 4 July 2018 The drop in complaints coincides with initiatives at each company designed to overcome their execrable reputations for customer relations. — Mike Rogoway, OregonLive.com, "Surprise! Cable TV, internet service may actually be improving," 30 Mar. 2018 Its execrable conditions led most of the city’s public employee unions to file grievances this year and resulted in a complaint from the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health. — Rachel Swan, San Francisco Chronicle, "SF supervisors to vote on moving offices from squalid Hall of Justice," 30 Oct. 2017 Trump can and should free America from this execrable deal at the earliest opportunity. — John R. Bolton, National Review, "How to Get Out of the Iran Nuclear Deal," 28 Aug. 2017 Then there’s the execrable headline about young Muslims being ‘‘time bombs.’’ The author of the article is a guy named Raheem Kassam, who is the editor of Breitbart’s bureau in London. — Wil S. Hylton, New York Times, "Down the Breitbart Hole," 16 Aug. 2017 Given the success of Van Wilder, no one at the company was opposed to licensing the brand, but the first projects Laikin brought in were execrable. — Benjamin Wallace, HWD, "Can Anyone Repair National Lampoon’s Devastated Brand?," 19 May 2017 Given the success of Van Wilder, no one at the company was opposed to licensing the brand, but the first projects Laikin brought in were execrable. — Benjamin Wallace, HWD, "Can Anyone Repair National Lampoon’s Devastated Brand?," 19 May 2017 In the soft pink dusk, as a perfect full moon rose out of the mountains, even the execrable post war concrete buildings below that so despoil the landscape here and throughout this ravishing island somehow managed to fade before nature’s majesty. — Hamish Bowles, Vogue, "Vogue’s Hamish Bowles on His Molto Alta Weekend in Palermo With Dolce & Gabbana," 11 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'execrable.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.