Loath

//ləʊθ// adj, verb

adj, verb ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    Obsolete spelling of loathe. alt-of, obsolete

    "To Scriptures read they muſt their leaſure frame, / Then loath they will both luſt and wanton love; […]"

Adjective
  1. 1
    Averse, disinclined; reluctant, unwilling. Always followed by a verbal phrase.

    "I was loath to return to the office without the Henderson file."

  2. 2
    Angry, hostile. obsolete
  3. 3
    Loathsome, unpleasant. obsolete
Adjective
  1. 1
    (usually followed by ‘to’) strongly opposed wordnet
  2. 2
    unwillingness to do something contrary to your custom wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
unwillingafraidantipatheticantipatheticantipatheticalapathetic

Example

More examples

"Tom and Mary are loath to share any details of their private life."

Etymology

From Middle English lōth (“loath; averse, hateful”), from Old English lāð, lāþ (“evil; loathsome”), or Old Norse leið, leiðr (“uncomfortable; tired”) from Proto-Germanic *laiþaz (“loath; hostile; sad, sorry”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂leyt- (“to do something abhorrent or hateful”). The word is cognate with Danish led (“disgusting, loathsome; nasty”), Dutch leed (“sad; (Belgium) angry”), French laid (“ugly; morally corrupt”), Catalan lleig (“ugly”), Icelandic leiður (“annoyed, vexed; sad; (archaic or poetic) annoying, wearisome”), Italian laido (“filthy, foul; obscene”), Old Frisian leed, Old High German leid (Middle High German leit, modern German leid (“uncomfortable”), Leid (“grief, sorrow, woe; affliction, suffering; harm, injury; wrong”)), Old Saxon lêð, lēth (“evil person or thing”), Swedish led (“bored; tired; (archaic) disgusting, loathsome; evil”).

More for "loath"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.