Loathsome

//ˈloʊð.səm// adj

adj ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Highly offensive; abominable, sickening.

    "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."

Adjective
  1. 1
    highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust wordnet
  2. 2
    causing or able to cause nausea wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
nauseatingbadabhorrentabominableantipatheticarrant

Example

More examples

"Spiders are loathsome little creatures."

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”).

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