Accursed means under a curse, or thoroughly detestable. An accursed place, this accursed machine, accursed luck.
The literal sense belongs to stories. The living sense is a mild and deliberately archaic expletive — this accursed thing — used for comic emphasis where a stronger word would do. Note the pronunciation, which takes three syllables in the older sense and often two in the exclamation; and that accursed is a- plus cursed, an intensifying prefix from Old English.
1adjectivecurseUnder a curse.
“The villagers believed the ruined castle was accursed and would not go near it after dark.”
2adjectiveaccursedThoroughly detestable, in comic use.
“I've been stuck in this accursed traffic jam for an hour!”
accursed is a state of being cursed.
Middle English acursed is from Old English acursian, a- plus cursian, to curse. The a- is an intensifier, so accursed is thoroughly cursed.
Old English
ācursian
Middle English
acursed
English, today
accursed
Built from
From Middle English acursed, from acursen (“to curse”), from Old English ācursian, from ā- + cursian, from curs (“curse”). 13th century.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA