Dictionary

loathsome en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈləʊð.səm/ (UK)
• /ˈləʊθ.səm/ (UK)
• /ˈloʊθ.səm/ (US)
• /ˈloʊð.səm/ (US)
• (Southern-England) audio

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”).

Meanings

1. Highly offensive; abominable, sickening.
   • 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. 1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter XX, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC, page 334:
   • Come on my Lords the better foot before, / Straight vvill I bring you to the lothſome pit, / VVhere I eſpied the Panther faſt a ſleepe. c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], signature [D4], recto:
   • 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. 1832, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Heath's Book of Beauty, 1833, The Enchantress, page 20:

Forms

Deriveds

loathsomeness · unloathsome · loathsomely

Translations (59)

de scheußlich (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · la taeter (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · pt desprezível (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · es abominable (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · el απαίσιος (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · de verhasst (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · ro dezgustător (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · grc βδελυχρός (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · fr odieux (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · eo naŭza (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · nrf r'pugnant (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · pt nojento (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · uk гидки́й (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · es nefando (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · mk гна́сен (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · ru отта́лкивающий (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · uk оги́дний (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · ru проти́вный (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · de widerwärtig (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · el επάρατος (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · es asqueroso (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · ru омерзи́тельный (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · grc βδελυρός (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · gl noxento (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · fi inhottava (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · es odioso (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · eo abomena (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · ro detestabil (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · it laido (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · it odioso (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · mk о́мразен (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · it detestabile (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · de verrucht (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · pt repugnante (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · es execrable (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · de ekelhaft (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · grc βδελυκτός (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · ar سافل (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · pt detestável (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · es aborrecible (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · de abgrundhässlich (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · es detestable (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · mi wetiweti (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · eo abomeninda (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · ja 厭わしい (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · es repugnante (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · de widerlich (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · pt asqueroso (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · ro odios (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · mk о́двратен (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · de abscheulich (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · bg противен (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · fr dégoûtant (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · bg отвратителен (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · cmn 憎惡 /憎恶 (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · de verabscheuenswürdig (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · ru отврати́тельный (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · ru га́дкий (highly offensive; abominable, sickening) · pt abominável (highly offensive; abominable, sickening)