detest
Syllables: de·test/dɪˈtɛst/
detest verb: to dislike (someone or something) intensely; to loathe.
Verb
detest (third-person singular simple present detests, present participle detesting, simple past and past participle detested)
- To dislike (someone or something) intensely; to loathe.
- I detest snakes.
- Who dares think one thing, and another tell, / My heart detests him as the gates of hell.1715–1720, Homer, “Book IX”, in Alexander Pope, transl., The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC
- To witness against; to denounce; to condemn.
- The heresy of Nestorius […] was detested in the Eastern churches.1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI)
- God hath detested them with his own mouth.1545, John Bale, The Image of Both Churches
detest meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
detest in Tamil
- வெறு, வெறுத்தொதுக்கு
detest in Urdu
- to detest
- ازحد نفرت کرنا azhad nafrat karnā
detest in Bengali
- তীব্র ঘৃণা করা
detest in Malayalam
- കഠിനമായി വെറുക്കുക, അറപ്പുകാട്ടുക, വിദ്വേഷിക്കുക, അസഹ്യപ്പെടുത്തുക
More languagesFewer languages
- detest in Kannada
- ಪೇಸು, ಪೇಚು, ಹೇಸು
- detest in Sanskrit
- चि ci
- detest in Thai
- ชิงชัง ching-chang, รังเกียจ rang-gìiat
Examples of detest in a sentence
- Although she detested her client, the taxi rank system meant she had no choice but to take the case.
- There are three reasons why I don't want to dance with you. To start with, my feet hurt. For another thing, you can't dance. And lastly, I detest you stench.
- It is an iron rule of French politics that sitting presidents are detested.
Forms of detest
| third-person singular present | detests |
|---|---|
| present participle | detesting |
| past participle | detested |
| past | detested |
Origin of detest
PIE word *tréyes From Middle French detester (French détester), from Latin dētestor (“to imprecate evil while calling the gods to witness", "denounce", "hate intensely”), from dē- + testor (“to testify, bear witness”), from testis (“a witness”); see test, testify. Doublet of detestate.
Words formed from detest
Words that rhyme with detest
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- attest
- guest
- quest
- bequest
- distressed
- pest
- prest
- request
- revest
- west
- wrest
- zest
- contest
- depressed
- dressed
- gest
- impressed
- jest
- suggest
- acid test
- best
- celeste
- divest
- ingest
- molest
- North West
- northwest
- possessed
- pressed
- professed
- southwest
- -cest
- addressed
- behest
- compressed
- congest
- fest
- infest
- lest
- obsessed
- pretest
- processed
- repressed
- rest.
- stressed
- tressed
- unrest
- unstressed
Questions about detest
- What does detest mean?
- Detest means to dislike (someone or something) intensely; to loathe.
- What is detest in Tamil?
- Detest in Tamil is வெறு, வெறுத்தொதுக்கு. See Detest meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is detest?
- Detest is a verb.
- How do you pronounce detest?
- Detest is pronounced /dɪˈtɛst/.
- What is the past tense of detest?
- The past tense of detest is detested.
Words near detest in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: detest (page history and authors); detest (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ازحد نفرت کرنا (Urdu) (page history and authors); Detest (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); detest (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); detest (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); चि (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-detest.ogg.
Cite this entry: “detest.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/detest. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.