= actions by which humans or deities consign other humans or deities or inanimate objects to death, damage, or destruction, usually by invoking the name of a deity if the agent is human; this is done as punishment, out of contempt, fear, anger, or hostility, or because one was paid to do so; the effectiveness of a curse partially depends on the authority of the one pronouncing it

= action by which humans and deities expresses their contempt towards someone else, with the intention of provoking public shame in that person