detest

English

Etymology

PIE word
*tréyes

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): /dɪˈtɛst/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ɛst
Hyphenation: de‧test

Verb

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

(transitive) To dislike (someone or something) intensely; to loathe.
I detest snakes.
- 1715–1720, Homer; [Alexander] Pope, transl., “Book IX”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], OCLC 670734254:
  Who dares think one thing, and another tell, / My heart detests him as the gates of hell.
- 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, OCLC 1023879857, page 171:
  Nurse Cramer had a cute nose and a radiant, blooming complexion dotted with fetching sprays of adorable freckles that Yossarian detested.
(transitive, obsolete) To witness against; to denounce; to condemn.
- 1655, Thomas Fuller, James Nichols, editor, The Church History of Britain, […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), new edition, London: […] [James Nichols] for Thomas Tegg and Son, […], published 1837, OCLC 913056315:
  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

to dislike intensely

Bulgarian: мразя (bg) (mrazja), ненавиждам (bg) (nenaviždam)
Catalan: detestar (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 厭恨／厌恨 (zh) (yànhèn), 恨死 (hènsǐ)
Czech: ošklivit si, hnusit si
Dutch: verafschuwen (nl)
Esperanto: abomeni (eo), malamegi
Finnish: inhota (fi)
French: détester (fr), mépriser (fr)
German: verabscheuen (de)
Hungarian: gyűlöl (hu)
Irish: an ghráin a bheith agat ar
Italian: detestare (it)
Japanese: (as an adjective) 大嫌い (だいきらい, daikirai), ひどく嫌う (ひどくきらう, hidoku kirau)
Latin: odi, exsecror, execror, abōminor
Polish: nienawidzić (pl), nie cierpieć
Portuguese: detestar (pt), odiar (pt)
Russian: ненави́деть (ru) (nenavídetʹ)
Scots: laith
Scottish Gaelic: fuathaich
Spanish: detestar (es)
Norwegian: avsky (no)
Swedish: avsky (sv)
Thai: ชิงชัง (th) (ching-chang), รังเกียจ (th) (rang-gìiat)

Anagrams

dettes, setted, tested