detestation

[dee-te-stey-shuhn]

noun

1. abhorrence; hatred.

2. a person or thing detested.

detestation

/ ˌdiːtɛsˈteɪʃən /

noun

1. intense hatred; abhorrence

2. a person or thing that is detested

Word History and Origins

Origin of detestation¹

1375–1425; late Middle English (< Middle French ) < Latin dētestātiōn- (stem of dētestātiō ), equivalent to dētestāt ( us ) (past participle of dētestārī to detest; -ate ¹ ) + -iōn- -ion

Example Sentences

The 81-year-old president generally seems like a grandfatherly figure predisposed to give people the benefit of the doubt, which makes his detestation of Trump all the more striking.

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In a perpetually changing world, the limitless capacity of France’s political factions’ mutual detestation is a constant.

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In my son’s democratic universe, I had hoped they could transcend detestation.

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“Divided We Fall” by David French, published weeks before the 2020 election, pictures the cleaving of the United States into two culturally distinct states, united only in their mutual detestation.

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The litany of domestic terrorism attacks manifests an ideological hatred of social justice as virulent as the Taliban’s detestation of Western values of freedom and truth.

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