different between detestable vs detest

English

Etymology

From Middle French détestable; surface analysis detest +? -able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??t?st?bl?/
• Hyphenation: de?test?able

Adjective

detestable (comparative more detestable, superlative most detestable)

1. Stimulating disgust or detestation; offensive; shocking.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "detestable" is often applied: crime, thing, practices, act, character, nature, person, conduct, villain, behavior.

Derived terms

• detestableness

Related terms

Translations

See also

• hateful
• abominable
• loathsome
• horrid

Anagrams

• seatbelted

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin d?test?bilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /detes?table/, [d?e.t?es?t?a.??le]

Adjective

detestable (plural detestables)

1. detestable

English

Etymology

From Middle French detester, from Latin detestari (“to imprecate evil while calling the gods to witness", "denounce", "hate intensely”), from de- + testari (“to testify, bear witness”), from testis (“a witness”); see test, testify.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??t?st/
• Hyphenation: de?test

Verb

detest (third-person singular simple present detests, present participle detesting, simple past and past participle detested)

1. (transitive) To dislike (someone or something) intensely; to loathe.

   I detest snakes.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To witness against; to denounce; to condemn.

   • The heresy of Nestorius […] was detested in the Eastern churches.

   • 1545, John Bale, The Image of Both Churches

     God hath detested them with his own mouth.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:hate

Related terms

• detestable
• detestation

Translations

See also

• abhor
• despise
• disdain
• dislike
• hate
• loathe

Further reading

• detest in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• detest in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• dettes, setted, tested