Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Unequivocally detestable; loathsome.
- adjective Thoroughly unpleasant or disagreeable.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Deserving or liable to be abominated; detestable; loathsome; odious to the mind; offensive to the senses.
- Synonyms Execrable, Horrible, etc. (see
nefarious ), detestable, loathsome, hateful, shocking, horrid, revolting, intolerable. See list underdetestable .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Worthy of, or causing, abhorrence, as a thing of evil omen; odious in the utmost degree; very hateful; detestable; loathsome; execrable.
- adjective obsolete Excessive; large; -- used as an intensive.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective obsolete Excessive; large; -- used as an
intensive . - adjective Very
bad orinferior .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective exceptionally bad or displeasing
- adjective unequivocally detestable
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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But when poverty forced his family to move to a grim Paris suburb, he awoke suddenly to what he called the abominable treatment meted out to all the potential "myselves" who had been conditioned to become subcitizens good only to keep working to pay for the retirements of the "real" French when the French age pyramid gets thin at the base.
The Truth About Jihad Rodenbeck, Max 2005
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Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday prayed at the memorial to victims of a 1944 massacre that was one of the worst atrocities by German occupiers in Italy during World War II and denounced what he called the "abominable" legacy of violence unleashed during war.
The Seattle Times 2011
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Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday prayed at the memorial to victims of a 1944 massacre that was one of the worst atrocities by German occupiers in Italy during World War II and denounced what he called the "abominable" legacy of violence unleashed during war.
USATODAY.com News 2011
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Pope visits memorial to Nazi victims in Rome Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday prayed at the memorial to victims of a 1944 massacre that was one of the worst atrocities by German occupiers in Italy during World War II and denounced what he called the "abominable" legacy of violence unleashed during war.
The Seattle Times 2011
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His offenses against the Peronistas up to that time had apparently consisted of little more than adding his signature to pro-democratic petitions, but shortly after his resignation he addressed the Argentine Society of Letters saying, in his characteristic style, “Dictatorships foster oppression, dictatorships foster servitude, dictatorships foster cruelty; more abominable is the fact that they foster idiocy.”
jorge luis borges | the destiny of borges « poetry dispatch & other notes from the underground 2008
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Israel literally went beyond the heathen in abominable idolatries.
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The word abominable has appeared in 3 Times articles over the past year, including in an April 29, 2009 music review of The Grateful Dead titled
NYT > Home Page By THE LEARNING NETWORK 2010
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To conclude, this sole vice, in my opinion, spoiled in him the most rich and beautiful nature that ever was, and has rendered his name abominable to all good men, in that he would erect his glory upon the ruins of his country and the subversion of the greatest and most flourishing republic the world shall ever see.
The Essays of Montaigne — Volume 13 Michel de Montaigne 1562
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To conclude, this sole vice, in my opinion, spoiled in him the most rich and beautiful nature that ever was, and has rendered his name abominable to all good men, in that he would erect his glory upon the ruins of his country and the subversion of the greatest and most flourishing republic the world shall ever see.
The Essays of Montaigne — Complete Michel de Montaigne 1562
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* The "Saw" movies none of which I've seen, but I understand some of the premises are based on the notion of abominable choice sets: do the helpless victims cut-out one of their eyes to retrieve a key to unlock the nail-traps that will impale their skulls within 60 seconds - or instead accept their gory death?
What is Real Freedom?, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
brtom commented on the word abominable
"Unwell in his abominable regions. "
Joyce, Ulysses, 14
January 27, 2007