abhor

[ ab-hawr ]
See synonyms for: abhorabhorredabhorring on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object),ab·horred, ab·hor·ring.
  1. to regard with extreme repugnance or aversion; detest utterly; loathe; abominate.

Origin of abhor

1
First recorded before 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin abhorrēre “to shrink back from, shudder at,” equivalent to ab-ab- + horrēre “to bristle, tremble”

synonym study For abhor

See hate.

Other words for abhor

Opposites for abhor

Other words from abhor

  • ab·hor·rer, noun
  • su·per·ab·hor, verb (used with object), su·per·ab·horred, su·per·ab·hor·ring.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use abhor in a sentence

  • He was a man of ‘great honesty,’ abhorring any deceit in the art he loved and studied.

    Witch, Warlock, and Magician | William Henry Davenport Adams
  • Abhorring equally the toil and the degradation, he deemed it a duty to prevent such a fall, and put his hope in his uncle.

    Magnum Bonum | Charlotte M. Yonge
  • The Buckle had been Ronald's fairy godmother—yet his father did not blame him for abhorring and disowning it.

    Tales Of Men And Ghosts | Edith Wharton
  • It is common to regard them in no other light than as a severe, somber, and pleasure-abhorring generation.

  • Both were unquiet spirits in the regiment, abhorring the monotony of drill and stables, and insatiable for leave.

    Bluebell | Mrs. George Croft Huddleston

British Dictionary definitions for abhor

abhor

/ (əbˈhɔː) /


verb-hors, -horring or -horred
  1. (tr) to detest vehemently; find repugnant; reject

Origin of abhor

1
C15: from Latin abhorrēre to shudder at, shrink from, from ab- away from + horrēre to bristle, shudder

Derived forms of abhor

  • abhorrer, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012