abhorrent
adjUK /æbˈ(h)ɒɹənt/ · US /æbˈhɔɹənt/
Etymology Borrowed from Latin abhorrēns, abhorrēntis, present active participle of abhorreō (“abhor”). Equivalent to abhor + -ent.
1
Archaic Inconsistent with, or far removed from, something; strongly opposed.
- abhorrent thoughts
- The persons most abhorrent from blood, and treason, and arbitrary confiscation, might remain silent spectators of this civil war between the vices.1803, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France:
2
Contrary to something; discordant.
- This legal, and, as it should seem, injudicious profanation, so abhorrent to out stricter principles, was received with a very faint murmur, ...1827, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline And Fall of the Roman Empire:
- In establishing his ideal state he expressed some opinions utterly abhorrent to our customs and ways of living. He believed, for instance, that all wives should be held in common ... with the result that no one could tell his own children from those of a perfect stranger.1990, James Hankins, Plato in the Italian Renaissance:
3
Abhorring; detesting; having or showing abhorrence; loathing.
4
Detestable or repugnant.
- If Pride, abhorrent as it is, and if Ambition, ...1833, Isaac Taylor, Fanaticism:
- That, I protest, is a doctrine psychologically impossible and ethically abhorrent.1936, Paul E. More, On Being Human:
1 more example
- The arts of pleasure in despotic courts I spurn, abhorrent; in a spotless heart I look for pleasure.1822, Richard Clover, Leonidas:
- Antonyms
- nonabhorrent, unabhorrent
- Related terms
- abhor, abhorred, abhorrence, abhorrency, abhorrently, abhorrer, abhorrible, abhorring