• (British) IPA: /dɪˈtɛst/

detest (detests, present participle detesting; past and past participle detested)

1. (transitive) To dislike intensely; to loathe.

   I detest snakes.

   • 1715, Homer; [Alexander] Pope, transl., “Book IX”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume I, London: Printed by W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott between the Temple-Gates, OCLC 670734254 ↗:

     Who dares think one thing, and another tell, / My heart detests him as the gates of hell.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To witness against; to denounce; to condemn.

   • The heresy of Nestorius […] was detested in the Eastern churches.

   • God hath detested them with his own mouth.

• See also Thesaurus:hate

• detestable
• detestation

• French: détester, mépriser
• German: verabscheuen
• Italian: detestare
• Portuguese: detestar, odiar
• Russian: ненави́деть
• Spanish: detestar