Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Detest

De·test′ (dē·tĕst′), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Detested; p. pr. & vb. n. Detesting.] [L. detestare, detestatum, and detestari, to curse while calling a deity to witness, to execrate, detest; de + testari to be a witness, testify, testis a witness: cf. F. détester. See Testify.] 1. To witness against; to denounce; to condemn. [Obs.]

The heresy of Nestorius . . . was detested in the Eastern churches. Fuller.

God hath detested them with his own mouth. Bale.

2. To hate intensely; to abhor; to abominate; to loathe; as, we detest what is contemptible or evil.

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

Syn. — To abhor; abominate; execrate. See Hate.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.