Odious    (pronounced oh-dee-us) adjective


Definition

arousing or deserving hatred, aversion, or intense distaste; hateful; disgusting.

Main Example

  • The firestorm over New York Stock Exchange Chairman Dick Grasso's nearly $200 million retirement pay package triggered an overhaul of how the Big Board is governed. According to analysts, one of the more odious aspects of the fallen chairman's compensation was that those who decided how much to pay him were not only Grasso-appointees, they were from firms that Grasso was regulating!

    Workplace Examples

  • Joe will not be pleased to see me serve on this committee. He and I have stood on opposite sides of most issues, so my presence will be nothing short of odious to him.

  • Judy was pretty upset at lunch today. She had just learned that her teenager has been associating with some of the most odious characters in the neighborhood.

    Other Examples

  • an auditor who regards his assignment as somewhat odious because he is always having to question other people's work

  • the recently unearthed mass graves in Iraq proving that the Saddam Hussein regime was one of the most odious in the world

  • some Hollywood movies presenting a sanitized and benevolent picture of odious mafiosos and gangsters

  • "Boiler Room," that highly entertaining 2000 film, illustrating how even the most sophisticated and well-educated Americans can lose their life savings by falling victim to odious businesses such as stock market scams

    © 2003 V.J. Singal

    This Month's Other Words

    Insouciant
    Prodigious
    Doctrinal
    Ossified
    Laconic
    Dogged
    Lionize

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