online medical dictionary | definition of imprecate

1. To call down by prayer, as something hurtful or calamitous. "Imprecate the vengeance of Heaven on the guilty empire." (Mickle)

2. To invoke evil upon; to curse; to swear at. "In vain we blast the ministers of Fate, And the forlorn physicians imprecate." (Rochester)

Origin: L. Imprecatus, p. P. Of imprecari to imprecate; pref. Im- in, on + precari to pray. See Pray.

(01 Mar 1998)