Meaning & use
abominable
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Causing strong moral disgust; deserving hatred because it is cruel, wicked, or deeply offensive.
Grammar: Stands before a noun or after a linking verb: an abominable crime; the crime was abominable.
Patterns
- an abominable crime
- an abominable act of cruelty
- it is abominable that…
The judge described the attack as an abominable crime.
Torture is abominable and can never be justified.
adjectivecomparableinformal
Very bad in quality; extremely unpleasant or disagreeable.
Grammar: Same positions as the moral sense, but tone is lighter and often exaggerated: abominable weather.
Patterns
- abominable weather
- abominable food
- an abominable performance
The weather was absolutely abominable all weekend.
The service was slow and the soup was abominable.
Common combinations
- an abominable crime
- The report called the bombing an abominable crime against civilians.
- abominable cruelty
- The diary revealed the abominable cruelty of the prison guards.
- abominable weather
- We stayed inside because of the abominable weather.
- utterly abominable
- She found the idea of cheating in the exam utterly abominable.
Synonyms and how they differ
- detestable
- Detestable matches the moral strength of abominable but is slightly more formal and can describe a person's character, not just acts.
- atrocious
- Atrocious also has a lighter informal use for very bad quality, like abominable weather, but its core sense is shocking cruelty.
- loathsome
- Loathsome emphasizes physical or moral disgust toward a person or thing; abominable emphasizes deserving hatred.
- appalling
- Appalling covers any shockingly bad thing, including poor quality, and is weaker on the moral judgment that abominable carries.
Opposites
Word family
- abomination noun
- Something that causes intense disgust or hatred.
- abominate verb
- To hate or detest something strongly, used mainly in formal contexts.
- abominably adverb
- In an abominable way: The team played abominably.
Commonly confused: abominable or abdominal?
abominable vs abdominal
Abdominal relates to the abdomen, the front part of the body between the chest and the legs; it has nothing to do with disgust.
Practice
The court described the murder as an ______ act of cruelty.
Choose one answer.
Abominable means morally disgusting and fits an act of cruelty. Abdominal is a spelling look-alike referring to the body, adorable means lovable, and adaptable means able to adjust.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “abominable”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.