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Needs some help on this one. In the text of an article written about my Gt Grandfather in mid 1860s this word was entered to describe his attitude towards another. I am leaning towards inferior.
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Hello Zooboo!Now you have me curious. I would have said it was a mis-spelling, as I can't find it in any dictionary. However, I have found several CVs and job-descriptions, where the person is, or has been an "Oprecation Manager" for some years.  All these are from in or near India. Any ideas shivenand or Srirr?
Though lovers be lost, love shall not, and Death shall have no dominion. - Dylan Thomas
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Welcome ZooBoo,
Pre`ca´tion
n. 1. The act of praying; supplication; entreaty.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, published 1913 by C. & G. Merriam Co.
This is the closest I could find right now and it owes not seem to be relevant at first glance.
My spouse does a lot of genealogy and his grandparents were in India as his gfather was in the British army there.
I will ask later.
Every man has a right to his opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts. Bernard M. Baruch 1870-1965
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Yet another dilemna? 
I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.
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Maybe some subcontinental form of procreation?
!!No discrimination intended whatsoever!! Just my usual irreverence.
"Before I speak, I have something important to say."Groucho Marx
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Zooboo wrote: Needs some help on this one. In the text of an article written about my Gt Grandfather in mid 1860s this word was entered to describe his attitude towards another. I am leaning towards inferior.
"Oprecation" is in neither the 1828, nor the 1913 edition of Webster's. Because you say it describes an attitude it may be either an adjective or a noun; that is, "an oprecation attitude",in which case it would be an adjective, or "an attitude of oprecation," in which case it would be a noun. I suspect it may be a misspelling, a nonce word, or a word with limited usage that never made it into a dictionary. Because you say context suggests a meaning of "inferior," on the misspelling hypothesis the word may be "deprecation," a noun, with the "D" or "d" misspelled as an "o" because of their similar shape and with the "e" omitted. The mistake may be a misspelling by the author, or by a printer who misread a handwritten document, or by both.
Yours as ever,
Sherlock
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I see I missed the fact that I hit a wrong letter and the automatic spell checker changed my word. ('does', not 'owes') I am debating about turning it off, as sometimes it is more hindrance than help.
Every man has a right to his opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts. Bernard M. Baruch 1870-1965
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@Zooboo and Drag0nspeaker, I too am lost in this search! I do not remember anyone using this word! As regards, mention of this in CVs from India, you can just discount them as being mis-spelt! Let me scratch further!! Cheers! 
A man can fail several times, but he is not a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.
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This was my seach - the first page gives what look like at least seven different examples (including a police report from Punjab, and a CV from St Louis Missouri. Google search result
Though lovers be lost, love shall not, and Death shall have no dominion. - Dylan Thomas
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I have narrowed down the possible meanings of "oprecation" from the context of a December 23, 1866 Marine Intelligence Column in the New York Times about the rude and rough experiences of an English immigrant to America, fresh off the Clipper Ship Scotland, who stumbled unwittingly into an Irish pub hostile to "English" emigrants. The long article reads in pertinent part:
"Another emigrant went, the day after his landing, into a lager-beer shop kept by an
Irishman, in Washington Street, without knowing the character of the locality,
had a glass of beer, and sat down to rest himself, and, being rather travel-worn
and weary, after being about ten minutes in the bar unconsciously closed his
eyes. Suddenly the brute of a bartender, in a rude Irish brogue, ordered him to
get up and go out. Taken by surprise at the abruptness of the treatment, the
poor emigrant stood and stared, when the ruffian seized a heavy wooden club in
the corner, and, uttering an oprecation about the English threatened to smash
his customer's brains out, and as he slowly left the place, actually hit him a
heavy blow with his club upon the shoulder. The occurrence may be left to speak
for itself, and may be recommended to the notice of the Police. As a general
rule, the emigrants behaved themselves throughout the voyage, with remarkable
decorum, which was not even infringed upon when one fine night they held a sort
of sea-carnival or dance on the after deck of the Scotland."
From context "oprecation" could reasonably mean a curse, a slander, or a detraction, or some combination. One could substitute any of these words for "oprecation," in the sentence and it would make perfect sense. A blend of curse and detraction (belittlement) would come closest. These meanings are consistent with Zooboo's interpretation of "inferior" gained from reading a separate document. To find its way into the New York Times, "oprecation" must have been a word in general usage circa 1860. "Oprecation" must have fallen out of common usage sometime before the 1913 edition of Webster's where it did not appear. Either that, or Webster's is not as comprehensive as we would like.
We still don't know exactly how "oprecation" originated, but a misspelling now seems less likely. An etymologist or librarian with access to research materials, old dictionaries, etc. probably could put the question entirely to rest. We posters are doing exactly the same thing that those who compile the dictionary do; gather examples of usage from available sources, and abstract the common meaning to arrive at a definition.
I will email editors of the OED for an answer. When I hear from them I will let you know.
Yours as ever,
Sherlock
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I too can take it as a misspelt term. If it is a valid word, I guess it is very rare.
A Google search however gives many instances of its use without giving any solid clue about its meaning. It is surprising that so many people make the same mistake, if any.
We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. ~ Swami Vivekanand
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@srirr, instances of mass mis-spelling(my own phrase!) are quite common in India. When I was doing Engineering, in one of the printed Workshop Diaries, Abstract was mis-printed as Abstact. You won't believe, students in the next 4 to 5 years wrote Abstact(printed diaries were done away with from the next batch)in their diaries! Those days, Glass Tracing and mass copying of diaries was very common. A friend of mine had even submitted his diary with my name and number! Cheers! 
A man can fail several times, but he is not a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.
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Thanks MTC!Well found! I think the post of "Oprecation Manager" in an electronics firm could be fun! Going round oprecating the workers all day, and getting paid for it. Of course, you wouldn't be able to oprecate the customers, that would damage business.  Maybe that's a different meaning...
Though lovers be lost, love shall not, and Death shall have no dominion. - Dylan Thomas
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I just found "Oprecation Excell, St. Louis, United States, Missouri" in a CV - but then found "Operation Excel, St. Louis, Missouri, United States" is a youth training scheme.
So at least this one is a mis-spelling.
If anyone on the forum is a member of LinkedIn, maybe you could contact Kamal Singh, who is the Oprecation Manager at Impact Communications and ask him.
Though lovers be lost, love shall not, and Death shall have no dominion. - Dylan Thomas
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While digging around in a spare moment, looking in even bigger dictionaries for 'Oprecation', I found this entry: Oprahization (O·prah·i·za·tion)
Entry from US Dictionary
Pronunciation: /ˌōprəīˈzāSHən/
noun
the increasing tendency of public and private citizens to discuss their personal problems or feelings in public forums, especially talk shows:
"going against the trend of Oprahization, he refused to talk about his divorce to the press"
Origin:
from Oprah Winfrey (1954–), US talk-show host + -ation  
Though lovers be lost, love shall not, and Death shall have no dominion. - Dylan Thomas
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MTC wrote:I have narrowed down the possible meanings of "oprecation" from the context of a December 23, 1866 Marine Intelligence Column in the New York Times about the rude and rough experiences of an English immigrant to America, fresh off the Clipper Ship Scotland, who stumbled unwittingly into an Irish pub hostile to "English" emigrants. The long article reads in pertinent part:
"Another emigrant went, the day after his landing, into a lager-beer shop kept by an
Irishman, in Washington Street, without knowing the character of the locality,
had a glass of beer, and sat down to rest himself, and, being rather travel-worn
and weary, after being about ten minutes in the bar unconsciously closed his
eyes. Suddenly the brute of a bartender, in a rude Irish brogue, ordered him to
get up and go out. Taken by surprise at the abruptness of the treatment, the
poor emigrant stood and stared, when the ruffian seized a heavy wooden club in
the corner, and, uttering an oprecation about the English threatened to smash
his customer's brains out, and as he slowly left the place, actually hit him a
heavy blow with his club upon the shoulder. The occurrence may be left to speak
for itself, and may be recommended to the notice of the Police. As a general
rule, the emigrants behaved themselves throughout the voyage, with remarkable
decorum, which was not even infringed upon when one fine night they held a sort
of sea-carnival or dance on the after deck of the Scotland."
From context "oprecation" could reasonably mean a curse, a slander, or a detraction, or some combination. One could substitute any of these words for "oprecation," in the sentence and it would make perfect sense. A blend of curse and detraction (belittlement) would come closest. These meanings are consistent with Zooboo's interpretation of "inferior" gained from reading a separate document. To find its way into the New York Times, "oprecation" must have been a word in general usage circa 1860. "Oprecation" must have fallen out of common usage sometime before the 1913 edition of Webster's where it did not appear. Either that, or Webster's is not as comprehensive as we would like.
We still don't know exactly how "oprecation" originated, but a misspelling now seems less likely. An etymologist or librarian with access to research materials, old dictionaries, etc. probably could put the question entirely to rest. We posters are doing exactly the same thing that those who compile the dictionary do; gather examples of usage from available sources, and abstract the common meaning to arrive at a definition.
I will email editors of the OED for an answer. When I hear from them I will let you know.
Yours as ever,
Sherlock
That would square with " imprecation".
"Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits." - Satchel Paige
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As promised, I emailed the OED for assistance with "oprecation." Although their editorial staff agreed to research the word, I hadn't heard from them in several weeks, so I went to Merriam-Webster instead. Paydirt! See letter from Assistant Editor that follows: I have not been able to track down any evidence for the use of "oprecation" (other than as a misspelling of "operation," which is clearly not the case with its use cited in your e-mail). My suspicion is that it is a deliberate or accidental portmanteau of "imprecation" and another word (as, for example, "opprobrium"). Another possibility is that it is a Latinate neologism combining the prefix "ob-" (in English usually used to mean "inward," "in reverse order," or "inverse," but in Latin also meaning "toward" or "against") and "precari" ("to pray"), the stem from which the Latin sources of "deprecate" and "imprecate" are also formed. In either case, the word does appear to be used in a sense similar to, if not synonymous with, "imprecation." The spelling of the word is highly unusual in that I can track down no other English words that combine either "o-" with a word beginning with "pr-" or "op-" with a word beginning with "r-." "Opprecation" would be the expected spelling in the case of either a portmanteau or a Latinate neologism. Paul Wood Assistant Editor Merriam-Webster, Inc. 47 Federal Street, PO Box 281 Springfield, MA 01102 pwood@Merriam-Webster.comhttp://www.Merriam-Webster.comhttp://www.WordCentral.com
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MTC, that is totally cool! Thank you for doing all the leg-work on this.
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all those who come here looking for tfd to make pronouncements about words, and we always say there is no right or wrong, only usage.... well, tfd forumfolk has pronounced - well done MTC 
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All of you who contributed deserve a hand on this one. It was impressive to see the lengths everyone went to in attempting to help. Congratulations.
A great many people will think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. ~ William James ~
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Thank you. You're all welcome. Others put their shoulders to the wheel on this one, though I seem to have developed AC joint symptoms and a small bunion. Nothing serious, mind you. Back to it, now...
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Thanks, MTC, for taking the initiative and sharing the result.
"Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits." - Satchel Paige
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For all you "oprecation" watchers, the Oxford English Dictionary just dragged in across the finish line. See copy of reply to several emails:
"Dear Mr C (full name omitted to protect the innocent)
One of our senior editors has looked through the files of unpublished material held in the Oxford English Dictionary archives, but was unable to find any reference to "oprecation". She has also checked the various databases that are routinely used (such as The Times Archive, Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Google Books etc.) but can find no examples of this word here either. She agrees that it is indeed plausible that "oprecation" might have the same meaning as "imprecation".
I am sorry that we have not been able to find any additional evidence of this word for you.
Best wishes
Juliet Evans"
From the delayed response, it appears the OED editorial staff must be overworked. Merriam-Webster also found no reference to "oprecation" in its database, but still found time to speculate about meaning and etymology. The lesson I have extracted from this sally into etymology--from initial inquiry, to my own independent research on the net, to efforts by fellow posters, to emails for assistance from authorities like Merriam-Webster and The Oxford English Dictionary-- is that amateur etymologists like you and me can make a contribution to the field, much as amateur astronomers do in astronomy from time to time. We discovered a word that was not in their "star atlas" so to speak. A mere footnote perhaps, but still something. It is fascinating to think there must be thousands of unseen words like "oprecation" circling the English lexicon, just waiting to be discovered.
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