as in vile
not following or in accordance with standards of honor and decency
the detestable actions of a nasty little man
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Recent Examples of detestable
Remember Paul Reiser's detestable Carter Burke in Aliens?
—
Randall Colburn, EW.com, 24 Apr. 2025
Top-notch casting is the cherry on top, with Lily James as the supremely likable Cinderella, Richard Madden as her down-to-earth prince, Cate Blanchett as the detestable stepmother with her own imperfect backstory, and Helena Bonham Carter as one lovably flighty fairy godmother.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 22 Mar. 2025
Can’t wait for the Stanley Cup window to close on Team Tank, easily the most detestable team in the League.
—Daniel Nugent-Bowman, The Athletic, 15 Mar. 2025
The film’s shadowy conspirators provide viewers with villains at once detestable and comfortingly familiar.
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 3 Nov. 2020
See All Example Sentences for detestable
Randall Colburn, EW.com, 24 Apr. 2025
Top-notch casting is the cherry on top, with Lily James as the supremely likable Cinderella, Richard Madden as her down-to-earth prince, Cate Blanchett as the detestable stepmother with her own imperfect backstory, and Helena Bonham Carter as one lovably flighty fairy godmother.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 22 Mar. 2025
Can’t wait for the Stanley Cup window to close on Team Tank, easily the most detestable team in the League.
—Daniel Nugent-Bowman, The Athletic, 15 Mar. 2025
The film’s shadowy conspirators provide viewers with villains at once detestable and comfortingly familiar.
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 3 Nov. 2020
See All Example Sentences for detestable
Recent Examples of Synonyms for detestable
Adjective
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What's more, monsters like Alex Jones, the vile conspiracy theorist, claimed the shooting never happened and that the families of the victims were actors.—
Bill Goodykoontz,
AZCentral.com,
29 Aug. 2025
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His motives seemed as vile as his actions.—
Scott Maxwell,
The Orlando Sentinel,
12 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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This folly—which Iran has sternly warned against—is immoral, unjustified, and unlawful.—
Amira El-Fekki,
MSNBC Newsweek,
2 Sep. 2025
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To argue that their mere presence is proof that the book is dangerous or its author must be as immoral as his characters misses the point.—
Kevin Dickinson,
Big Think,
2 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Natural gas fulfills much of this need, while coal is dirtier, expensive, and increasingly irrelevant for electricity production.—
Ken Silverstein,
Forbes.com,
2 Sep. 2025
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Although the space station is without dirt and mud, astronauts’ clothes get dirty from sweat during their daily exercise.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
2 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Sean Gardner/Getty Images This comes just weeks after Zilisch suffered a nasty fall from his car in Victory Lane at Watkins Glen, which resulted in a broken collarbone.—
Lydia Mee,
MSNBC Newsweek,
7 Sep. 2025
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Parents pushing, people cutting lines, nasty attitudes everywhere, especially outside and in Sephora.—
Toria Sheffield,
PEOPLE,
6 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Because of the cruel math of throughput and utilization, over ten days, only three hundred people experienced Blur.—
Charlie Fink,
Forbes.com,
6 Sep. 2025
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Tamra was awful to Gretchen back then, culminating in the Naked Wasted Party, which was one of the cruelest things to ever happen on Housewives.—
Brian Moylan,
Vulture,
5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The death of Pope Francis, sadly, has not escaped the attention of these truly contemptible criminals.—
Davey Winder,
Forbes.com,
24 Apr. 2025
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At the time, some of LeBron’s critics saw this as contemptible.—
Ross Andersen,
The Atlantic,
16 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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What the rest of the MacKenzies don’t know, however, is that Ellen, in the midst of her grief, has fallen head over heels for Brian, the illegitimate son of the despicable Lord Lovat (Tony Curran) and a member of a rival clan.—
Max Gao,
HollywoodReporter,
29 Aug. 2025
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Putin and Baranov, his advisor, are despicable characters.—
Elsa Keslassy,
Variety,
27 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Just as the Kremlin sought to quell dissent against its vicious campaign in the restive republic, so, too, has a deafening silence accompanied its Ukraine folly.—
Christopher Vourlias,
Variety,
31 Aug. 2025
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Set against a backdrop of vicious infighting between rival Scottish clans, the prequel began in wake of the sudden death of Ellen’s father, Red Jacob (Peter Mullan), who was the leader of Clan MacKenzie.—
Max Gao,
HollywoodReporter,
29 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Detestable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/detestable. Accessed 8 Sep. 2025.
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