abomination

American  

[uh-bom-uh-ney-shuhn] / əˌbɒm əˈneɪ ʃən /

noun

abominations plural

1. anything abominable; anything greatly disliked or abhorred.

2. intense aversion or loathing; detestation.

   He regarded lying with abomination.

   Synonyms:

   hatred

3. a vile, shameful, or detestable action, condition, habit, etc..

   Spitting in public is an abomination.

   Synonyms:

   depravity, corruption

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abomination British  

/ əˌbɒmɪˈneɪʃən /

noun

1. a person or thing that is disgusting

2. an action that is vicious, vile, etc

3. intense loathing

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• self-abomination
  noun
• superabomination
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• abominations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of abomination

1350–1400; Middle English ab ( h ) ominacioun < Late Latin abōminātiōn- (stem of abōminātiō ). See abominate, -ion

Explanation

The noun abomination means a thing or action that is vile, vicious or terrible. For example, if you see a neighbor kick an old blind dog that's done nothing wrong, you might remark, "That kind of cruelty is an abomination!" The word abomination comes from the Old French word abominacion, meaning "horror, repugnance, disgust." The word abomination can also be used to refer to a person or object you find utterly loathsome and repellent. If you look at someone else as an abomination, that means you are horrified by them, and barely even think they're human. If you hear a friend describing you as an abomination behind your back, you need to find a new buddy right away!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

abomination abominations

And this VAR abomination we’ve all now been introduced to?

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026

“The texture is an abomination: gluey, with rubbery, chewy pockets.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

They had survived their way through the day despite their own awful shortcomings, winning on penalties because Rangers were an abomination in reply.

From BBC ● Mar. 8, 2026

That abomination pops out of an unsettlingly cheerful woman whose husband swoops in to offer the hitchhiking boy a ride.

From Salon ● Nov. 9, 2025

The throat diameter that I had so carefully calculated and Mr. Caton and his buddies had so precisely machined was now an ugly, oblong, pitted abomination.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

Over the decades, they have produced classics such as “Exile on Main St.” and “Some Girls,” mediocrity like “Steel Wheels,” and abominations such as “Dirty Work.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026

Inside the church, services are held as abominations are uncovered outside.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 10, 2022

Old garlic, burnt garlic, garlic cut too long ago, garlic that has been smashed through one of those abominations, the garlic press, are all disgusting.

From Salon ● Jan. 10, 2022

But symbols matter, and toppling a statue is often a powerful statement: the end of a regime or an empire, or simply of averting the community’s gaze from atrocities and abominations perpetrated by the subject.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 3, 2021

They must remain hidden, and give the humans no hint that they were here, or that, unthinkably, five abominations had survived the Carnage and eked out an existence here for fifteen years.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor