Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Unwilling or reluctant; disinclined: I am loath to go on such short notice.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Hateful; disliked; detested.
- Feeling extreme unwillingness or aversion; very unwilling; reluctant; averse.
- n. Evil; harm; injury.
Wiktionary
- adj. unwilling, reluctant; averse, disinclined
- adj. obsolete hostile, angry, loathsome, unpleasant
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. obsolete Hateful; odious; disliked.
- adj. Filled with disgust or aversion; averse; unwilling; reluctant.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. unwillingness to do something contrary to your custom
- adj. (usually followed by `to') strongly opposed
Etymologies
- From loth, from Middle English loth ("disinclined"; "loathsome"), from Old English lāþ ("loathsome", "evil") (Wiktionary)
- Middle English loth, displeasing, loath, from Old English lāth, hateful, loathsome. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“What I loath is the hypocrisy and intolerance of an organized group forcing their brand of “morality” on the rest of us while they are blind to their own failings or worse, see a “Spiritual path” as a means to control and manipulate others for personal gain.”
“If you read Gary Taubes’ book “Good Calories Bad Calories,” you will learn that fat cells filled up by insulin loath to release their contents to the body for fuel.”
“The province is "loath" to change its royalty structure, he added.”
“At what point did I state that I 'loath' the dude?”
Obama Hits Bill Again, Faults National Media For Misreporting On Reagan Comments
“Part of the thing is that some of the jobs that are increasing, for instance, men are kind of loath to get into it.”
“Personally, I'm kind of loath to judge work by the author, more the other way around.”
“Graphic images on the page included a woman with the word "loath" carved into her flesh.”
Information, Culture, Policy, Education: What not to publish to your MySpace, part 523
“I’m sure you know loath rhymes with both, loathe rhymes with hoathe or clothe or mothe, loath is an adjective, loathe is a verb.”
“Tech entrepreneurs often pursue their corporate visions with missionary zeal and are loath to sell company shares, even if it is financially prudent.”
“The Dalai Lama, of course, considers the well-being of some six million Tibetans living in Tibet as the defining issue—but Beijing is loath to discuss this matter.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘loath’.
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1100
abound, technology, branch of knowled..., prognosticate, automaton, matron, an older married ..., realm, special field of ..., kingdom, annals, historical records and 981 more...
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GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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EN - confusables
Similar words meaning different things
torturous, wreathe, tortuous, wreath, titivate, titillate, stationary, storey, septic, principal, principle, story and 134 more...
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Dominant/Submissive
abusive, adamant, autocratic, bossy, bullheaded, bumptious, certain, cock-a-hoop, cocksure, cocky, commanding, compelling and 189 more...
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EN - archaic words
abide, abjure, abroad, adamant, afield, aforetime, aghast, anon, apace, argent, assuage, aught and 328 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Words from Blood Meridian
visage, affray, scullery, miasma, mirth, purlieu, tacit, benighted, wickiup, corral, amble, accoutre and 210 more...
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GRE 1100
drudgery, implore, hapless, nuance, wrest, incipient, inadvertent, tremulous, bristle, euphemism, disdain, pugnacious and 346 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1824 more...
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Go over
mollify, obstinate, obviate, occlude, onerous, obscure, paragon, pedantic, perfunctory, placate, placid, prodigal and 364 more...
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1100 words you need to know
GRE words
voracious, indiscriminate, replete, steeped, eminent, perceive, intrepid, compound, automaton, reticent, interminable, drudgery and 288 more...
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Stumbled Words
A list of words that I stumbled upon while reading.
penumbra, prolix, propitious, resplendence, sepulchral, Weltschmerz, apparition, brigand, probity, chalice, paroxysm, pallor and 160 more...
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My Revised GRE Preparation List
Words from the new GRE : This list consists mostly of words from the book Magoosh-GRE-vocab-ebook, which is one of the best vocab materials available, especially if you have started preparing one ...
mulct, dupe, pittance, stipend, defray, cupidity, avarice, prodigal, profligate, affluent, insolvent, penurious and 533 more...
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CCW
Commonly Confused Words
wreath, wreathe, titillate, titivate, proscribe, prescribe, pedal, peddle, mettle, metal, palette, palate and 132 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for loath.

minerva For a variant, see loth. Dec 15, 2007
bilby I swear an oathe never to so do. Dec 15, 2007
sarra Loath is loath to be misspelt with an e. Dec 15, 2007