detest
verb/dɪˈtɛst/
Etymology PIE word *tréyes From Middle French detester (French détester), from Latin dētestor (“to imprecate evil while calling the gods to witness", "denounce", "hate intensely”), from dē- + testor (“to testify, bear witness”), from testis (“a witness”); see test, testify. Doublet of detestate.
1
To dislike (someone or something) intensely; to loathe.
- I detest snakes.
- Who dares think one thing, and another tell, / My heart detests him as the gates of hell.1715–1720, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book IX”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC:
1 more example
- Nurse Cramer had a cute nose and a radiant, blooming complexion dotted with fetching sprays of adorable freckles that Yossarian detested.1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 171:
2
Obsolete To witness against; to denounce; to condemn.
- The heresy of Nestorius […] was detested in the Eastern churches.1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):
- God hath detested them with his own mouth.1545, John Bale, The Image of Both Churches:
- Derived terms
- detestability, undetesting
- Related terms
- detestable, detestation, abhor, despise, disdain, dislike, hate, loathe