detestation

American  

[dee-te-stey-shuhn] / ˌdi tɛˈsteɪ ʃən /

noun

1. abhorrence; hatred.

2. a person or thing detested.

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detestation British  

/ ˌdiːtɛsˈteɪʃən /

noun

1. intense hatred; abhorrence

2. a person or thing that is detested

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Etymology

Origin of detestation

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

Explanation

Detestation is a feeling of disgust and loathing, like the detestation everyone in your environmental club feels toward people who litter or waste water. When you truly, fiercely hate something or someone, that's detestation. In other words, you detest that hated thing or person. Members of a pacifist group share a detestation for war, and a criminal mastermind might feel nothing but detestation for the superhero who keeps thwarting her plans. The word comes from the Latin verb detestari, "to curse or express abhorrence for."

Example Sentences

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

From Washington Post • Jan. 19, 2022

Germany has set aside its traditional detestation for debt to unleash emergency spending, while enabling the rest of the European Union to breach limits on deficits.

From New York Times • Mar. 26, 2020

"Being black people ourselves, such remarks have invited a sense of loathing and detestation of Gandhi," the Gandhi Must Fall group said in its court application.

From BBC • Oct. 31, 2018

There would be on all hands the utmost detestation of whomsoever had been guilty of such cruelty.

From Slate • Jun. 16, 2018

The Fundamentalists required no new reason to detest robots and robot manufacturers; but a new reason such as the Quinn accusation and the Calvin analysis was sufficient to make such detestation audible.

From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov