---
title: imprecation — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «imprecation» in the school dictionary: An imprecation is a curse, an angry wish that bad things will happen to someone. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# imprecation

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** imprecation, angry wish, witch, king, Her · **What happens:** be, happen, shout, call down, hear, imprecate · **To what, where:** curse, imprecation, thief, solemn imprecations, imprecations, valley

<!-- .vabout -->
«imprecation» in the school dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [imprecation in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/imprecation.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An imprecation is a curse, an angry wish that bad things will happen to someone.

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:imprecation:m1:1
# text = An imprecation is a curse, an angry wish that bad things will happen to someone.
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	imprecation	imprecation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	curse	curse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	angry	angry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	wish	wish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
11	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
13	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	acl:relcl	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a imprecation | a curse |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **happen** | future | a angry wish |  |  |  |  | to someone | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The witch shouted an imprecation at the thief.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:imprecation:x1:1
# text = The witch shouted an imprecation at the thief.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	shouted	shout	VERB	VBD	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	imprecation	imprecation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	thief	thief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shout** *speech: express* | past | the witch | a imprecation |  | the thief |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent imprecation=Topic |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The king called down solemn imprecations on the murderer.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:imprecation:x2:1
# text = The king called down solemn imprecations on the murderer.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	down	down	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	solemn	solemn	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	imprecations	imprecation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	xcomp	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	murderer	murderer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call down** *speech: assert* | participle | the king *not said here* | solemn imprecations on the murderer |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Her imprecations could be heard across the valley.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:imprecation:x3:1
# text = Her imprecations could be heard across the valley.
1	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	imprecations	imprecation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	across	across	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	valley	valley	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | could · passive |  | Her imprecations |  | the valley |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: subject=Stimulus |
| 2 | **imprecate** |  | Her *= she* |  |  |  |  |  | nom imprecation «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

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**Text:** the school dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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