Execrable means extremely bad or unpleasant, so terrible that it deserves to be condemned or hated. When something is execrable, it's offensively awful, far beyond poor quality.

You might encounter this word in book reviews. A critic might describe an execrable performance by an actor who ruins every scene, or an execrable translation that mangles a beautiful poem. The cafeteria might serve execrable pizza that tastes like cardboard with ketchup on top. Someone with execrable manners might chew with their mouth open, interrupt constantly, and never say thank you.

Execrable suggests something so bad it makes you angry or disgusted. You wouldn't use it for something merely mediocre or disappointing. An execrable lie is one that's particularly cruel or harmful. Execrable behavior goes beyond rude into truly offensive territory.

This is a formal, literary word. You're more likely to read it than hear it in everyday conversation, but when writers use it, they're making clear that whatever they're describing is spectacularly, memorably, truly terrible.