detestable

[dih-tes-tuh-buhl]

adjective

1. deserving to be detested; abominable; hateful.

   Synonyms: vile, odious, loathsome, abhorrent, execrable

detestable

/ dɪˈtɛstəbəl /

adjective

1. being or deserving to be abhorred or detested; abominable; odious

Other Word Forms

• detestably adverb
• detestability noun
• detestableness noun
• undetestability noun
• undetestable adjective
• undetestableness noun
• undetestably adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of detestable¹

1375–1425; late Middle English < Middle French < Latin dētestābilis, equivalent to dētest ( ārī ) to detest + -ābilis -able

Example Sentences

Decades of lionizing men like Nile Jarvis have made his detestable personality not just easy to spot, but queasily appealing.

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Eliot would have been incapable of the kind of remark one comes on regularly in Woolf’s diary: “The fact is the lower classes are detestable.”

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As a former Houstonian, I can attest that the only thing more detestable than a roach is a flying roach.

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"Knowing the vulgarity of the old world, today I try to avoid being listened to by the new world – so that I don't come across as detestable," he told the court.

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As the bored trust fund kid Tara, Lohan drew from her experiences withering away in the California sun to craft a character who was detestable but always sympathetic.

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