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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Unequivocally detestable; loathsome: abominable treatment of prisoners.
  2. adj. Thoroughly unpleasant or disagreeable: abominable weather.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Deserving or liable to be abominated; detestable; loathsome; odious to the mind; offensive to the senses. In colloquial language especially, abominable often means little more than excessive, extreme, very disagreeable: as, his self-conceit is abominable.
  2. Synonyms Execrable, Horrible, etc. (see nefarious), detestable, loathsome, hateful, shocking, horrid, revolting, intolerable. See list under detestable.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Worthy of, or causing, abhorrence, as a thing of evil omen; odious in the utmost degree; very hateful; detestable; loathsome; execrable.
  2. adj. Excessive; large; -- used as an intensive.
  3. adj. Very bad or inferior.
  4. adj. Worthy of, or causing, abhorrence, as a thing of evil omen; odious in the utmost degree; very hateful; detestable; loathsome; execrable.
  5. adj. Excessive; large; -- used as an intensive.
  6. adj. Very bad or inferior.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Worthy of, or causing, abhorrence, as a thing of evil omen; odious in the utmost degree; very hateful; detestable; loathsome; execrable.
  2. adj. Excessive; large; -- used as an intensive.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. exceptionally bad or displeasing
  2. adj. unequivocally detestable

Etymologies

  1. Middle English abhominable, from Old French, from Latin abōminābilis, from abōminārī, to abhor; see abominate.

Examples

  • “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

  • “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

  • “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

  • “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

  • “Israel literally went beyond the heathen in abominable idolatries.”

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

  • “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

  • “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

  • “* 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

  • “Denying it generates so-called abominable conjunctions.”

    Epistemology

  • “The ANC condemns in the strongest possible terms the abominable killing of our fellow Africans by people who do not attach any value to human life.”

    ANC STATEMENT ON THE KILLING OF FOREIGNERS

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Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘abominable’.

Comments

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  • brtom "Unwell in his abominable regions. "
    Joyce, Ulysses, 14 Jan 27, 2007

‘abominable’ has been looked up 2204 times, loved by 1 person, added to 32 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 16.