obnoxious

[uhb-nok-shuhs]

adjective

1. highly objectionable or offensive; odious.

   obnoxious behavior.

   Antonyms: delightful

2. annoying or objectionable due to being a show-off or attracting undue attention to oneself.

   an obnoxious little brat.

3. Archaic.,  exposed or liable to harm, evil, or anything objectionable.

4. Obsolete.,  liable to punishment or censure; reprehensible.

obnoxious

/ əbˈnɒkʃəs /

adjective

1. extremely unpleasant

2. obsolete,  exposed to harm, injury, etc

Other Word Forms

• obnoxiously adverb
• obnoxiousness noun
• unobnoxious adjective
• unobnoxiously adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of obnoxious¹

First recorded in 1575–85; from Latin obnoxiōsus “harmful,” equivalent to ob- “to, toward, against,” + noxiōsus “harmful”; ob-, noxious

Word History and Origins

Origin of obnoxious¹

C16: from Latin obnoxius, from ob- to + noxa injury, from nocēre to harm

Synonym Study

See hateful.

Example Sentences

Their son, David Brown, said his mother described Thomas Brown during his Knox days as “the obnoxious guy sitting in the front of class, smoking a pipe and arguing with the professor.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

He is whimsical, funny, snarky, slightly obnoxious and at his core, I think, very sincere.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

You probably don’t need me to supply the obnoxious punchline to that joke.

Read more on Salon

In January 2022 he was put on notice for a host of causes: combative emails, obnoxious behavior, failures of organization.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"It's just so, so obnoxious," says Connor James, who lives in east London and listens to music on public transport - but always has headphones in.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• abhorrent 
• annoying 
• disgusting 
• hateful 
• loathsome 
• nasty 
• objectionable 
• reprehensible 
• rotten 
• unpleasant