hates

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of hate.

   He hates being interrupted during his morning routine.

   The cat hates loud noises and hides whenever the vacuum runs.

   Note

   Agreement is the whole job of the -s: he hates, the cat hates, but I, you, we and they hate. It is usually transitive and needs something hated after it, either a noun or a gerund, as in hates being interrupted. In slang it also forms the phrasal verb hate on, where the object follows the particle: she hates on every new release.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of hate.

   The columnist devoted a whole page to her petty hates.

   His likes and hates were obvious to everyone around him.

   Note

   A plural that counts dislikes one by one: a person's hates are the particular things they cannot stand, often paired with likes or narrowed to pet hates. It draws on the countable sense of hate as an object of hatred. When the emotion itself is meant, the singular usually reads better (full of hate, not full of hates). The same spelling also serves the present-tense verb, as in she hates crowds.

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