Borrowed fromLatinabhorrēns, abhorrēntis, present active participle ofabhorreō(“abhor”). Equivalent toabhor +-ent.
abhorrent (comparativemoreabhorrent,superlativemostabhorrent)
- (archaic) Inconsistent with, or far removed from, something; strongly opposed.[Late 16th century.][1]
abhorrent thoughts
1803, Edmund Burke,Reflections on the Revolution in France[1]:The persons mostabhorrent from blood, and treason, and arbitrary confiscation, might remain silent spectators of this civil war between the vices.
- Contrary to something;discordant.[Mid 17th century.][1]
1827,Edward Gibbon,The History of the Decline And Fall of the Roman Empire[2]:This legal, and, as it should seem, injudicious profanation, soabhorrent to out stricter principles, was received with a very faint murmur, ...
1990, James Hankins,Plato in the Italian Renaissance[3]:In establishing his ideal state he expressed some opinions utterlyabhorrent 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.
- Abhorring;detesting; having or showingabhorrence;loathing.[Mid 18th century.][1]
- Detestable orrepugnant.[Early 19th century.][1]
1833,Isaac Taylor,Fanaticism[4]:If Pride,abhorrent as it is, and if Ambition, ...
1936, Paul E. More,On Being Human[5]:That, I protest, is a doctrine psychologically impossible and ethicallyabhorrent.
1822, Richard Clover,Leonidas[6]:The arts of pleasure in despotic courts I spurn,abhorrent; in a spotless heart I look for pleasure.
- (opposed):abhorrent is typically followed byfrom.
- (contrary):abhorrent is followed byto.
with nouns
- abhorrent behavior
- abhorrent act
- abhorrent crime
- abhorrent practice
- abhorrent thing
detesting; showing abhorrence
Translations to be checked
- ↑1.01.11.21.3Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abhorrent”, inThe Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.:Oxford University Press,→ISBN, page 4.
- “abhorrent”, inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.:G. & C. Merriam,1913,→OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney,Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “abhorrent”, inThe Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.:The Century Co.,→OCLC.
- “abhorrent”, inOneLook Dictionary Search.
abhorrent
- third-personpluralpresentindicative/subjunctive ofabhorrer
abhorrent
- third-personpluralpresentactiveindicative ofabhorreō
