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detestable (adj.)

"abominable, very odious," early 15c., from Old French detestable (14c.) and from Latin detestabilis "execrable, abominable," from detestari "to curse, execrate, abominate, express abhorrence for," literally "denounce with one's testimony," from de "from, down" (see de-) + testari "be a witness," from testis "witness" (see testament). Related: Detestably; detestableness.

Entries related to detestable

de- 

active word-forming element in English and in many verbs inherited from French and Latin, from Latin de "down, down from, from, off; concerning" (see de), also used as a prefix in Latin, usually meaning "down, off, away, from among, down from," but also "down to the bottom, totally" hence "completely" (intensive or completive), which is its sense in many English words.

As a Latin prefix it also had the function of undoing or reversing a verb's action, and hence it came to be used as a pure privative — "not, do the opposite of, undo" — which is its primary function as a living prefix in English, as in defrost (1895), defuse (1943), de-escalate (1964), etc. In some cases, a reduced form of dis-.

testament (n.)
late 13c., "last will disposing of property," from Latin testamentum "a last will, publication of a will," from testari "make a will, be witness to," from testis "witness," from PIE *tri-st-i- "third person standing by," from root *tris- "three" (see three) on the notion of "third person, disinterested witness."

Use in reference to the two divisions of the Bible (early 14c.) is from Late Latin vetus testamentum and novum testamentum, loan-translations of Greek palaia diatheke and kaine diatheke. Late Latin testamentum in this case was a confusion of the two meanings of Greek diatheke, which meant both "covenant, dispensation" and "will, testament," and was used in the former sense in the account of the Last Supper (see testimony) but subsequently was interpreted as Christ's "last will."

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Definitions of detestable from WordNet

detestable (adj.)
offensive to the mind;
Synonyms: abhorrent / obscene / repugnant / repulsive
detestable (adj.)
unequivocally detestable; "consequences odious to those you govern"- Edmund Burke;
detestable vices
Synonyms: abominable / execrable / odious
From wordnet.princeton.edu

Dictionary entries near detestable

determinist

deterministic

deterrence

deterrent

detest

detestable

detestation

dethrone

dethronement

detonate

detonation

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