Word of the Day for Friday October 28, 2005 malediction \mal-uh-DIK-shun\, noun: A curse or execration. There Justice Minister Bola Ige, confronted with the general incivility of local police, placed a malediction on the cads. Said the Hon. Bola Ige, "I pray that God will make big holes in their pockets." --"Sic Semper Tyrannis! Oppressors Face People's Justice," American Spectator, May 1, 2001 A conspiracy of infamy so black that, when it is finally exposed, its principals shall be forever deserving of the maledictions of all honest men. --Joseph McCarthy, quoted in [1]Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, by Harvey Klehr and John Earl Haynes _________________________________________________________ Malediction comes from Latin maledictio, from maledicere, "to speak ill, to abuse," from Latin male, "badly" + dicere, "to speak, to say." References 1. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0300084625/ref=nosim/lexico Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=9&q=malediction