abominable

adj
/əˈbɑm.ə.nə.bl̩/US/ɘˈbɔm.ɘ.nɘ.bɯ/

Etymology

From Middle English abhomynable, from Old French abominable, from Late Latin abōminābilis (“deserving abhorrence”), from abōminor (“abhor, deprecate as an ill omen”), from ab (“from, away from”) + ōminor (“forebode, predict, presage”), from ōmen (“sign, token, omen”). Formerly erroneously folk-etymologized as deriving from Latin ab- + homo, literally "away from humankind," and therefore spelled abhominable, abhominal (Hence, Shakespeare puns on this when Hamlet speaks of incompetent actors that "imitate humanity abominably.")

  1. derived from abōminābilis
  2. derived from abominable
  3. inherited from abhomynable

Definitions

  1. Worthy of, or causing, abhorrence, as a thing of evil omen

    Worthy of, or causing, abhorrence, as a thing of evil omen; odious in the utmost degree; very hateful; detestable; loathsome; execrable.

    • abominable crime
    • utterly abominable
    • He committed an abominable act of cruelty.
  2. Excessive, large (used as an intensifier).

  3. Very bad or inferior.

  4. + 1 more definition
    1. Disagreeable or unpleasant.

      • abominable weather
      • The prisoners were kept in abominable conditions.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at abominable. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01abominable02hateful03hatred04aversion05turning06foul07loathsome

A definitional loop anchored at abominable. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at abominable

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA