loathe

Etymology

Middle English lothe, from Old English lāþian, from Proto-Germanic *laiþōną. Cognate with Old Norse leiðask ( > Danish ledes, Icelandic leiðast, all reflexive), German leiden.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈləʊð/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈloʊð/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊð

Verb

loathe (third-person singular simple present loathes, present participle loathing, simple past and past participle loathed)

1. To hate, detest, revile.

   I loathe scrubbing toilets.

   I absolutely loathe hydrangeas.

   • Cowley

     Loathing the honeyed cakes, I Ionged for bread.

   • 1850, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnets from the Portuguese:

     Quick-loving hearts, I thought, may quickly loathe

   • 2003 October 13, The New Yorker:

     This movie is a historical achievement: Clint Eastwood, an icon of violence, has made us loathe violence as an obscenity. “Mystic River” hurts the way sad stories always hurt, but the craft and love with which it has been made transfigure pain into a moviegoer’s rapture

Anagrams

• Theola