Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Very annoying or objectionable; offensive or odious: "I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution” ( Ulysses S. Grant).
- adj. Archaic Exposed to harm, injury, or evil: "The town ... now lies obnoxious to its foes” ( John Bunyan).
- adj. Archaic Deserving of or liable to censure.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Liable: subject; exposed, as to harm, injury, or punishment: generally with to: as, obnoxious to blame or to criticism.
- Justly liable to punishment; hence, guilty; reprehensible; censurable.
- Offensive; odious; hateful.
- In law, vulnerable; amenable: with to: as, an indefinite allegation in pleading is obnoxious to a motion, but not generally to a demurrer.
Wiktionary
- adj. Very annoying, offensive, odious or contemptible.
- adj. archaic exposed to harm or injury.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Subject; liable; exposed; answerable; amenable; -- with to.
- adj. Liable to censure; exposed to punishment; reprehensible; blameworthy.
- adj. Very offensive; odious; hateful.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. causing disapproval or protest
Etymologies
- From Latin obnoxiōsus ("hurtful, injurious, dangerous"), from obnoxius ("punishable; liable to danger"), from ob ("against; facing") + noxia ("hurt, injury, damage"). (Wiktionary)
- Latin obnoxiōsus, subordinate, from obnoxius, subject, liable : ob-, to; see ob- + noxa, injury. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“HUFFTINGTON: Well, the greatest fears have to do with the voices in our heads, what I call the obnoxious roommate living in our head, putting us down every day.”
“Ratko Mladic defiantly refused on Friday to enter pleas to what he called "obnoxious" allegations that as the Serb military chief during the Bosnian war he orchestrated the worst atrocities of a conflict that claimed 100,000 lives.”
“Mladic tells court does not want to enter pleas Ratko Mladic defiantly refused on Friday to enter pleas to what he called "obnoxious" allegations that as the Serb military chief during the Bosnian war he orchestrated the worst atrocities of a conflict that claimed 100,000 lives.”
“Although Mr. Isaacson is not analytical about his subject's volatile personality the word "obnoxious" figures in the book frequently, he raises the question of whether feelings of abandonment in childhood made him fanatically controlling and manipulative as an adult.”
“I suppose in Britain being obnoxious is still against the law, unlike the US. But then, they started the whole politeness thing with afternoon tea.”
“I suppose in Britain being obnoxious is still against the law, unlike the US.”
“No, the best way to make PWCs less obnoxious is to put about a teaspoon of beach sand under the sparkplug when the operator returns to the beach for a joint and more beer.”
“All these years of decay and degeneration finally culminated to a terrible end when Francis Hope became bankrupt by engaging in obnoxious activities such as gambling and his family is said to have died from extreme poverty.”
“Sometimes I even promoted the gay image so that certain obnoxious males would leave me alone.”
“Before she goes to world competitions she gets wired and she gets plain obnoxious," she says.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘obnoxious’.
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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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important
shamanism, consol, sanguine, iffy, affinity, concatenation, honed, innumberable, aiden, inexorable, vet, suss and 176 more...
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hunting
crudely, unequivocal, obsolete, obscure, overtly, misdeed, shack, inherent, outcry, hefty, composed, poised and 318 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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funny & derogatory
WARNING: VERY EXPLICIT. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
funny derogatory names, quotes, phrases.
( open list, randomness, ad hom, ad hominem )
also see:
buttfucking quitter, dirty sanchez, donkey punch, falcon punch, assbadger, unicorn turd, assclown, fudgenut, quackery, friggin homo, buttmuncher, jackwagon and 274 more... -
GRE
predilection, explicit, appeal, supplication, appealing, enchanting, ovation, pertinent, apropos, opportunely, applicable, germane and 381 more...
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Lesson 6
addict, aspire, bias, blatant, candid, confront, debut, enroll, fluster, impunity, intensify, intimidate and 3 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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Vocab6
stint, retort, obnoxious, intimidate, intensify, impunity, fluster, enroll, debut, confront, candid, blatant and 3 more...
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Vocab List lesson 6
addict, aspire, bias, blatant, candid, confront, debut, enroll, fluster, impunity, intensify, intimidate and 3 more...
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dharma66's list
words that pique my interest either by meaning, pronunciation, or spelling, and words that otherwise tickle my fancy!!
pique, elusive, serendipity, nefarious, redundant, pseudoscientific, obsequious, flack, quandary, impervious, perchance, translucent and 168 more...
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Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 2369 more... -
fifi
verbs Adj Adv noun
indulge, convene, solve, dissolve, prospect, prospective, allege, resolve, accountable, administration, amid, agenda and 407 more...
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Apples to Apples: Green Cards
A complete list of the green cards (adjectives) from the popular word game.
absurd, addictive, adorable, aged, American, ancient, animated, annoying, appetizing, arrogant, awesome, awkward and 237 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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Revised GRE Wordlist_2013
Vocabulary building for my quest of GRE 2013
ephemeral, esoteric, rhetoric, censure, egregious, pittance, dupe, mulct, paucity, alacrity, maintain, laconic and 997 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for obnoxious.

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