loathing

Pluralloathings

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A feeling of revulsion or strong distaste; extreme hatred or dislike of someone or something.

   The novel traces the narrator's growing loathing of the small town that raised him.

   She spoke of the old regime with open loathing.

   Similarhatred, disgust, revulsion, contempt, abhorrence

   Oppositelove, affection, fondness, admiration

   Note

   The feeling usually takes of before its target: a loathing of his former friend, a growing loathing of the small town. It also works as a manner phrase, spoken of with open loathing. Mostly it names one steady feeling, but it can be counted, and loathings in the plural lists the particular things someone cannot stand. Of all the dislike words it sits near the top, where hatred meets disgust.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of loathe.

   He spent his twenties loathing the city and his thirties missing it.

   Loathing someone often takes more energy than forgiving them.

   Note

   The verb form takes its object directly (loathing the city) and, as a gerund, can head a sentence: loathing someone often takes more energy than forgiving them. Add of after it and it turns into the noun for the feeling. The silent e of loathe drops before -ing, so the spelling looks as if it came from loath, the adjective for reluctance, though the two are separate words.

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