as in vile
not following or in accordance with standards of honor and decency
the detestable actions of a nasty little man
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Recent Examples of detestable
Remember Paul Reiser's detestable Carter Burke in Aliens?
—
Randall Colburn, EW.com, 24 Apr. 2025
Top-notch casting is the cherry on top, with Lily James as the supremely likable Cinderella, Richard Madden as her down-to-earth prince, Cate Blanchett as the detestable stepmother with her own imperfect backstory, and Helena Bonham Carter as one lovably flighty fairy godmother.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 22 Mar. 2025
Can’t wait for the Stanley Cup window to close on Team Tank, easily the most detestable team in the League.
—Daniel Nugent-Bowman, The Athletic, 15 Mar. 2025
The film’s shadowy conspirators provide viewers with villains at once detestable and comfortingly familiar.
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 3 Nov. 2020
See All Example Sentences for detestable
Randall Colburn, EW.com, 24 Apr. 2025
Top-notch casting is the cherry on top, with Lily James as the supremely likable Cinderella, Richard Madden as her down-to-earth prince, Cate Blanchett as the detestable stepmother with her own imperfect backstory, and Helena Bonham Carter as one lovably flighty fairy godmother.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 22 Mar. 2025
Can’t wait for the Stanley Cup window to close on Team Tank, easily the most detestable team in the League.
—Daniel Nugent-Bowman, The Athletic, 15 Mar. 2025
The film’s shadowy conspirators provide viewers with villains at once detestable and comfortingly familiar.
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 3 Nov. 2020
See All Example Sentences for detestable
Recent Examples of Synonyms for detestable
Adjective
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What's more, monsters like Alex Jones, the vile conspiracy theorist, claimed the shooting never happened and that the families of the victims were actors.—
Bill Goodykoontz,
AZCentral.com,
29 Aug. 2025
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His motives seemed as vile as his actions.—
Scott Maxwell,
The Orlando Sentinel,
12 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Ladapo said the decision was not reached according to the data, but instead on his view that vaccine mandates are immoral and outside the scope of the government’s authority.—
Sarah Fortinsky,
The Hill,
7 Sep. 2025
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Even the paper’s biggest triumph—which, without giving too much away, brings it into direct conflict with its toilet-paper stablemate—involves a farcically immoral compromise that tramples the church-state divide between news and product sales (and, worse, isn’t all that funny).—
Jon Allsop,
New Yorker,
5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Wearing shoes in the home tracks soil from outside, leaving floors dirtier and requiring more frequent sweeping.—
Jolie Kerr,
Better Homes & Gardens,
9 Sep. 2025
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Laptop screens get spattered, smeared, dusty, and dirty from frequent use.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
9 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Sean Gardner/Getty Images This comes just weeks after Zilisch suffered a nasty fall from his car in Victory Lane at Watkins Glen, which resulted in a broken collarbone.—
Lydia Mee,
MSNBC Newsweek,
7 Sep. 2025
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Parents pushing, people cutting lines, nasty attitudes everywhere, especially outside and in Sephora.—
Toria Sheffield,
PEOPLE,
6 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Because of the cruel math of throughput and utilization, over ten days, only three hundred people experienced Blur.—
Charlie Fink,
Forbes.com,
6 Sep. 2025
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Tamra was awful to Gretchen back then, culminating in the Naked Wasted Party, which was one of the cruelest things to ever happen on Housewives.—
Brian Moylan,
Vulture,
5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The death of Pope Francis, sadly, has not escaped the attention of these truly contemptible criminals.—
Davey Winder,
Forbes.com,
24 Apr. 2025
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At the time, some of LeBron’s critics saw this as contemptible.—
Ross Andersen,
The Atlantic,
16 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Foster, who was so good as Henry Haft in another brutal boxing story The Survivor, here is on the other side playing a despicable man who fortunately now in real life is in prison.—
Pete Hammond,
Deadline,
5 Sep. 2025
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But between the individual Smurfs, the deliciously despicable Gargamel, and his equally evil cat Azrael, the series kept the kids coming back for nine seasons, creating enough fond memories to turn the Smurfs into a film franchise three decades later.—
Will Harris,
EW.com,
1 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Once infected, the body demands even more energy to fend off infection, leading to a vicious cycle.—
Michal Ruprecht,
NPR,
8 Sep. 2025
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Masked country crooner Orville Peck will keep his face covered while playing Vega, the vicious fighter who uses metal claws as one of his weapons.—
Christopher Rudolph,
PEOPLE,
6 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Detestable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/detestable. Accessed 14 Sep. 2025.
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