curse
/kəːs
/noun
1A solemn utterance intended to invoke a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or something: she’d put a curse on him...
- Pete claims they can put a curse on you similar to the curses or hexes described by voodoo, witchcraft, or a good mummy story.
- You should ask only for protection from someone who has ill will toward you, and never put a curse on him; he's cursing himself with his own behavior.
- Dominic explained that the story goes that, before her death, Lucy put a curse on all successive governors of the old gaol that they would die young.
Synonyms
malediction, the evil eye, imprecation, execration, voodoo, hoodoo;
anathema, excommunication;
North American hex;
Irish cess
informal jinx
archaic malison, ban
1.1 [usually in singular] A cause of harm or misery: impatience is the curse of our day and age...
- But for five years he went into a colossal sulk, blaming his problems on ‘the curse of being lower middle class’ and refusing to give interviews.
- Even the Easter rising of 1916 was doomed before it commenced through lack of proper communication and the old curse of command and counter command.
- The pill is the latest attempt by pharmaceutical companies to tackle a problem labelled the curse of the 21st century - social awkwardness.
Synonyms
evil, blight, scourge, plague, cancer, canker, poison
affliction, burden, cross to bear, bane, bitter pill, misfortune, misery, ordeal, trial, tribulation, torment, trouble, problem
2An offensive word or phrase used to express anger or annoyance: at every blow there was a curse...
- When he visits farmers, ploughmen and herdsmen to offer advice on improving and increasing their yields, he secretly jots down their curses and swear words in a small notebook.
- Kia paused to take a deep breath and then spewed out a long list of swear words and curses (which I would get sued for writing down).
- A tirade of four letter words and curses spilled from her mouth as what Griffin had just told her hit home.
Synonyms
swear word, expletive, oath, profanity, four-letter word, dirty word, obscenity, imprecation, blasphemy, vulgarism, vulgarity;
swearing, bad/foul language, strong language
informal cuss, cuss word
3 (the curse) informal Menstruation.If a mother refers to her period as ‘the curse,’ her daughter might take away a negative impression of the whole experience.
verb
1 [with object] Invoke or use a curse against: it often seemed as if the family had been cursed...
- Claims that the woman invoked a loa to curse him with insanity are invalidated by a complete lack of proof that he ever became insane.
- Why don't you stop cursing my family and leave us alone, you're dead now!
- Her family is cursed, disgraced, and she's come back to the center of it.
Synonyms
put a curse on, put the evil eye on, execrate, imprecate, hoodoo;
anathematize, excommunicate, damn;
North American hex
informal put a jinx on, jinx
rare accurse
1.1 (be cursed with) Be afflicted with: many owners have been cursed with a series of bankruptcies...
- His grandmother had the same affliction that his mother was cursed with.
- Britain is cursed with equally bleak towns, and even bleaker suburbs, from the ‘grey box’ blight that peppers the stunning Highlands to city corners that even rats wouldn't loiter in after dark.
- It is a trait he has been cursed with all his life.
Synonyms
be afflicted with, be troubled by, be plagued with, suffer from, be burdened with, be blighted with, be bedevilled by
2 [no object] Utter offensive words in anger or annoyance: he cursed loudly as he burned his hand...
- I swore loudly, cursing again when the noise made my head ache.
- The driver was cursing and swearing, but his fury stopped short of him actually getting out of the car.
- Tess cursed silently under her breath as she knew she could not stay in this hut.
Synonyms
swear, utter profanities, utter oaths, use bad/foul language, be foul-mouthed, blaspheme, be blasphemous, take the Lord's name in vain, swear like a trooper, damn
informal cuss, turn the air blue, eff and blind
archaic execrate
2.1 [with object] Address with offensive words: I cursed myself for my carelessness...
- Faith's heart sank with those words, and she cursed herself inwardly for swallowing her pride and coming to him.
- She cursed herself inwardly as the words left her and knew what was about to happen next.
- I jumped as a sharp knock sounded at my door and cursed myself for it.
Derivatives
curser
- Such was the experience of a woman who took her future in-laws to meet her parents for the first time. Her in-laws were big cursers, while her own family never swore.
- This makes for unsafe highways, road rage and a nation of cursers.
- Shakespeare's most virulent cursers are always the most oppressed and powerless.
Origin
Old English, of unknown origin.