abhorrence

American  

[ab-hawr-uhns, -hor-] / æbˈhɔr əns, -ˈhɒr- /

noun

1. a feeling of extreme repugnance or aversion; utter loathing; abomination.

   Synonyms:

   detestation, execration

2. something or someone extremely repugnant or loathsome.

---

abhorrence British  

/ əbˈhɒrəns /

noun

1. a feeling of extreme loathing or aversion

2. a person or thing that is loathsome

---

Other Word Forms

• self-abhorrence noun

Etymology

Origin of abhorrence

First recorded in 1650–60; abhorr(ent) + -ence

Explanation

Abhorrence is a feeling of hate and disgust. If you have an abhorrence of violence, you probably won't want to watch "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." The Latin ancestor of abhorrence isn't all that different from today's word or its meaning — it comes from abhorrēre, which means "to shrink back from," and it became synonymous with loathing in the early 17th century. Note the similarity to the word horror — a good way to remember the word's meaning. The Polish physicist Joseph Rotblat knew the power of the word when he used it to refer to the "widespread instinctive abhorrence of nuclear weapons.”

Example Sentences

The gingery hero of “Bookish” has an abhorrence of murder.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 8, 2026

It had everything to do with the public’s interest in the news and the First Amendment’s abhorrence of prior restraints.

From Slate • May 21, 2024

What's just as bad is the abhorrence problem, meaning that sometimes the original meaning of the Constitution is clear enough, but the results of an "originalist" interpretation would be morally abhorrent to most Americans today.

From Salon • Sep. 11, 2022

Comedians roasted the militants on television networks, painters expressed their abhorrence of the way they carried out attacks, and musicians sang anti-Taliban songs.

From New York Times • Oct. 31, 2021

Zero and infinity had destroyed the Arisotelian philosophy; the void and the infinite cosmos had eliminated the nutshell universe and the idea of nature’s abhorrence of the vacuum.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife