detest
/dɪˈtɛst
/verb [with object]
Dislike intensely: she really did detest his mockery...
- They loathe tinsel, detest office parties and abhor rum balls of all kinds.
- Some shoppers detest them intensely, while millions will use them but can't be bothered to claim the benefits.
- It is ironic that the general population hates drug dealers, but fears and often detests the police just as much.
Synonyms
abhor, hate, loathe, despise, abominate, execrate, regard with disgust, feel disgust for, feel repugnance towards, feel distaste for, shrink from, recoil from, shudder at, be unable to bear, be unable to abide, feel hostility to, feel aversion to, feel animosity to, find intolerable, dislike, disdain, have an aversion to
archaic disrelish
Derivatives
detester
- But now I pray to Allah to cure me in order for me to take revenge on those detesters of everything Arab and Muslim.
- They had to get out of their house before Greg and his group of Irish detesters came by.
- Also, apologies to parenthesis detesters and for sparse information of specific venues.
Origin
Late 15th century: from Latin detestari, from de- 'down' + testari 'witness, call upon to witness' (from testis 'a witness').
testicle from Late Middle English:
The ancient Romans felt that a man's testicles testified that he was male. They formed the word testiculus from Latin testis ‘witness’, the source also of attest (late 16th century); detest (Late Middle English) which originally meant to denounce; protest (Late Middle English); testify (Late Middle English); and intestate (Late Middle English) ‘without a witnessed will’. The testicles were the ‘witnesses’ of the man's virility.