abominable

adjective

abom·​i·​na·​ble ə-ˈbäm-nə-bəl 

-ˈbä-mə-

1

formal : worthy of or causing disgust or hatred : detestable

the abominable treatment of the poor

an abominable crime

2

: very bad or unpleasant

abominable weather

abominably

ə-ˈbäm-nə-blē 

-ˈbä-mə-

adverb

being treated abominably

abominably bad weather

Did you know?

The tendency to hate evil omens is a vital part of the history of abominable. The word descends from the Latin verb abominari, which means "to deprecate as an ill omen" or "to detest"; abominari itself comes from ab- plus omin- ("from an omen"). When English speakers adopted abominable in the 14th century, they used it to express their disgust over evil or truly detestable things—and for 500 years that's the way things stood. In the 17th century, the word's meaning moderated, so that Scottish novelist William Black could write in A Princess of Thule (1873), "Sheila had nothing to do with the introduction of this abominable decoration." Other descendants of abominari are abominate ("to hate or loathe intensely") and abomination ("something odious or detestable").

Synonyms

• abhorrent
• appalling
• awful
• disgusting
• distasteful
• dreadful
• evil
• foul
• fulsome
• gross
• hideous
• horrendous
• horrible
• horrid
• loathsome
• nasty
• nauseating
• nauseous
• noisome
• noxious
• obnoxious
• obscene
• odious
• offensive
• rancid
• repellent
• repellant
• repugnant
• repulsive
• revolting
• scandalous
• shocking
• sickening
• ugly

Examples of abominable in a Sentence

It was an abominable crime.

your table manners are abominable!

Recent Examples on the Web

Gizelle takes an opportunity during dinner to speak on her daughter graduating and her anxieties around sending Grace off to college at FAMU considering the generally abominable sociopolitical climate in Florida. —Shamira Ibrahim, Vulture, 26 Feb. 2024

The Bucks were abominable on defense, and Griffin reportedly lost his locker room. —Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 23 Jan. 2024

The philosopher’s anti-Semitism, however abominable, shouldn’t stand in the way. —Christian Madsbjerg, Foreign Affairs, 1 Jan. 2015

The world was horrified by this abominable assault. —Letters To The Editor, The Mercury News, 10 May 2024

Yet these are acts of retaliation for a collective sense of an abominable injustice committed with impunity. —Pierre Esperance, Foreign Affairs, 2 Apr. 2024

And these states’ home-value-to-income ratios are abominable when compared to the national average (3.33). —Jasmine Browley, Essence, 10 Jan. 2024

His was an age in which the prospect of Earth bereft of human occupancy was too abominable, too sacrilegious, to contemplate. —Rebecca Giggs, The New York Review of Books, 30 Nov. 2023

Hamas is an abominable terrorist organization, worse than ISIS, that brutally and intentionally murders babies, children, women and the elderly, takes civilians hostage and uses its own people as human shields. —Compiled By Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, Arkansas Online, 26 Oct. 2023

Word History

Etymology

Middle English abhomynable, abomynable, borrowed from Anglo-French abhominable, abominable, borrowed from Late Latin abōminābilis, abhominābilis (spelling influenced by Latin ab homine "from the man"), from abōminārī "to detest, abominate" + -ābilis -able

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing abominable

• abominable snowman

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Kids Definition

abominable

adjective

abom·​i·​na·​ble ə-ˈbäm-(ə-)nə-bəl 

formal

1

: deserving or causing disgust : hateful, detestable

abominable behavior

2

: quite disagreeable

abominable weather

abominably

-blē 

adverb