loathsome

English

Alternative forms

• loathesome
• lothsome (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English lothsum, from Old English *lāþsum, from Proto-West Germanic *laiþasam, equivalent to loath +‎ -some. Cognate with Middle Low German lêtsam (“arduous”), German leidsam (“sad, sorry”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈləʊð.səm/, /ˈləʊθ.səm/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈloʊð.səm/, /ˈloʊθ.səm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

loathsome (comparative more loathsome, superlative most loathsome)

1. Highly offensive; abominable, sickening.
   • 1832, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Heath's Book of Beauty, 1833, The Enchantress, page 20:

     That grave but yesterday received one who was to have been his bride—his betrothed from childhood for whose sake he had been to far lands and gathered much wealth, but who had pined in his absence and died. He flung himself on the loathsome place, and the night-wind bore around the ravings of his despair.

   • 1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter XX, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London, New York, N.Y., Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC, page 334:

     Lying on the floor was a dead man, in evening dress, with a knife in his heart. He was withered, wrinkled, and loathsome of visage. It was not till they had examined the rings that they recognized who it was.

Derived terms

• loathsomely
• loathsomeness
• unloathsome

Collocations

with nouns

• loathsome disease
• loathsome creature
• loathsome thing
• loathsome person
• loathsome man
• loathsome woman
• loathsome dungeon
• loathsome place
• loathsome world
• loathsome smell
• loathsome act

Translations

highly offensive; abominable, sickening

• Arabic: سافل
• Bulgarian: противен (bg) (protiven), отвратителен (bg) (otvratitelen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 憎惡／憎恶 (zh) (zēngwù, zēng'è)

• Esperanto: abomeninda, abomena (eo)
• Finnish: inhottava (fi)
• French: odieux (fr), dégoûtant (fr)
• Galician: noxento m
• German: ekelhaft (de), abscheulich (de), scheußlich (de), widerlich (de), widerwärtig (de), verabscheuenswürdig, verhasst (de), verrucht (de), abgrundhässlich (de)
• Greek: απαίσιος (el) m (apaísios), επάρατος (el) m (epáratos)

  Ancient: βδελυρός (bdelurós), βδελυκτός (bdeluktós)

  Doric: βδελυχρός (bdelukhrós)

• Italian: laido (it), odioso (it), detestabile (it)
• Latin: taeter
• Macedonian: о́двратен (ódvraten), о́мразен (ómrazen), гна́сен (gnásen)
• Maori: wetiweti
• Norman: r'pugnant
• Portuguese: nojento (pt), repugnante (pt), abominável (pt), asqueroso (pt), desprezível (pt), detestável (pt)
• Romanian: detestabil (ro), odios (ro), dezgustător (ro)
• Russian: отврати́тельный (ru) (otvratítelʹnyj), омерзи́тельный (ru) (omerzítelʹnyj), отта́лкивающий (ru) (ottálkivajuščij), га́дкий (ru) (gádkij), проти́вный (ru) (protívnyj)
• Spanish: aborrecible (es), detestable (es), odioso (es), abominable (es), repugnante (es), nefando (es), execrable (es), asqueroso (es)
• Ukrainian: оги́дний (uk) m (ohýdnyj), гидки́й m (hydkýj)

Further reading

• “loathsome”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “loathsome”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “loathsome”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.