loathing
Americannoun
noun
Related Words
See aversion.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of loathing
First recorded in 1300–50, loathing is from the Middle English word lathynge. See loathe, -ing 1
Explanation
Loathing is a feeling of complete disgust. Your loathing of the feeling of sand between your toes means that going to the beach isn't much fun for you. If you have an utterly disgusted hatred of something, you have a loathing for it. A loathing of green vegetables can result in nutritional problems, and a loathing of little kids would make a person a pretty terrible babysitter. To loathe something is to abhor or strongly dislike it; the Old English root of both loathe and loathing is laðian, to be disgusted with.
Vocabulary lists containing loathing
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Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Last summer there was lots of kind of fear and loathing about AI,” Lichtenberg said, “and I feel like there’s been a vibe shift.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026
Michael Jackson is a prime example of this conundrumFor his millions of devotees their love for him is rivalled in intensity only by their seething loathing for his critics.
From BBC • Mar. 7, 2026
“We wear your loathing with pride,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in a post on X addressed to S&P, adding that the company “is and remains extremely profitable.”
From Barron's • Nov. 27, 2025
I share Vejar’s loathing for the relentless “tree of heaven,” the deciduous plant that is sometimes called a stinking sumac.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 10, 2025
When she looked up at him, the expression on her face was a bleak map of loathing and fatigue.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
