abhorrence

C2+ Topic:Emotions & Feelings

US /əbˈhɔrəns/ UK /əbˈhɒrəns/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
a feeling of strong repugnance or disgust

She regarded cruelty to animals with absolute abhorrence.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a feeling of strong... loathingdetestation repugnance revulsion abomination aversion disgust hatred

Opposites

admiration love attraction fondness liking

Word family

Related forms abhor abhorrent abhorrency

Etymology

From abhor + -ence, from Latin abhorrēre ('to shrink back from, shudder at'), from ab- ('away') + horrēre ('to bristle, shudder').

abhorrēre Latin horrēre Latin *ǵʰers- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Emotions & Feelings Word Formation & Derivatives

# abhorrence

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** əbˈhɔrəns
**IPA (UK):** əbˈhɒrəns

## Meanings
1. a feeling of strong repugnance or disgust

## Examples
- She regarded cruelty to animals with absolute abhorrence.

## Synonyms
- loathing
- detestation
- repugnance
- revulsion
- abomination
- aversion
- disgust
- hatred

## Antonyms
- admiration
- love
- attraction
- fondness
- liking

## Related Forms
- abhor
- abhorrent
- abhorrency

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: abhorrēre
- Root: horrēre
- Root: *ǵʰers-

## Etymology
From abhor + -ence, from Latin abhorrēre ('to shrink back from, shudder at'), from ab- ('away') + horrēre ('to bristle, shudder').

## AI Etymology
abhorrence comes from abhor + -ence, from Latin abhorrēre ('to shrink back from, shudder at'), from ab- ('away') + horrēre ('to bristle, shudder'). Morphologically, the word is transparent: -ence is attached to the older base named in the history, so the modern form packages an inherited or borrowed stem inside a later English derivative. In modern use, the noun sense is "a feeling of strong repugnance or disgust", which keeps the etymology connected to the word's present dictionary value rather than treating it as a merely historical label. The wider word family includes related English forms such as abhor, abhorrent, abhorrency, showing how the same base continues to support neighboring English vocabulary. The principal historical forms in the chain include Latin abhorrēre, Latin horrēre, Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰers-, which anchor the explanation in named linguistic material.

## Topics
- Emotions & Feelings
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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