🇮🇹Italian Source WordCode: IT

detestare

Pronunciation / Transliteration: de-tes-ta-re

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Detest/dɪˈtɛst/
verbCEFR C1 (Advanced)Top #6500 frequency
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🇮🇹 Example Sentence in Italian:

"Tutti detestano essere presi in giro."

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As verb
  1. 1

    To dislike intensely; to feel hatred or abhorrence for.

    "She came to detest the hypocrisy she saw in high society."
  2. 2

    To abhor or loathe something vehemently.

    "He detests any form of cruelty towards animals."

Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Synonyms (3)
Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Derived from the Latin 'detestari', meaning to call upon a deity to witness against someone or to curse, formed from 'de-' (down, away) + 'testari' (to witness). Entering the English language in the 16th century via Old French 'detester', the word evolved from a religious invocation of disgust into a secular expression of intense hatred or abhorrence.

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