All 17 Uses of
loathe
in
The Idiot
- No more of the girlish alternations of timidity and petulance, the adorable naivete, the reveries, the tears, the playfulness...It was an entirely new and hitherto unknown being who now sat and laughed at him, and informed him to his face that she had never had the faintest feeling for him of any kind, except loathing and contempt—contempt which had followed closely upon her sensations of surprise and bewilderment after her first acquaintance with him.†
Chpt 1.4loathing = disgust or intense dislike
- Nastasia Philipovna was quite capable of ruining herself, and even of perpetrating something which would send her to Siberia, for the mere pleasure of injuring a man for whom she had developed so inhuman a sense of loathing and contempt.†
Chpt 1.4
- The women condemned her too, and looked at her contemptuously, just as though she were some loathsome insect.†
Chpt 1.6 *loathsome = disgusting or very bad
- He seized him by the shoulder and gazed with an intensity of loathing and revenge at him, but said nothing—as though his feelings were too strong to permit of words.†
Chpt 1.9loathing = disgust or intense dislike
- "What's that got to do with it?" asked the general, who loathed Ferdishenko.†
Chpt 1.13loathed = detested or intensely disliked
- I have loathed you every day of these three months since I last saw you.†
Chpt 2.3
- He loathed the idea of trying to answer the questions that would rise up in his heart and mind.†
Chpt 2.5
- But again a loathing for all mental exertion overmastered him; he would not think it out now, he would put it off and think of something else.†
Chpt 2.5loathing = disgust or intense dislike
- How often during the day he had thought of this hotel with loathing—its corridor, its rooms, its stairs.†
Chpt 2.5
- Why, if I were an angel of light, and as innocent before you as a babe, you would still loathe me if you believed that SHE loved me, instead of loving yourself.†
Chpt 3.3loathe = hate
- I thought someone led me by the hand and showed me, by the light of a candle, a huge, loathsome insect, which he assured me was that very force, that very almighty, dumb, irresistible Power, and laughed at the indignation with which I received this information.†
Chpt 3.6loathsome = disgusting or very bad
- This ghost had humiliated me;—nor could I bear to be subordinate to that dark, horrible force which was embodied in the form of the loathsome insect.†
Chpt 3.6
- If I were to bring you to the most loathsome den, and show you the revelation of undisguised vice—you should not blush.†
Chpt 3.10
- He looked with hate and loathing on the poverty and downfall of his family, and treated his mother with haughty contempt, although he knew that his whole future depended on her character and reputation.†
Chpt 4.1loathing = disgust or intense dislike
- She always loathed the idea of the prince as a HUSBAND; everybody knows that.†
Chpt 4.1loathed = detested or intensely disliked
- I always did feel a loathing for the laws which seem to guide mamma's conduct at times.†
Chpt 4.6loathing = disgust or intense dislike
- In our country it is only among the upper classes that you find unbelievers; men who have lost the root or spirit of their faith; but abroad whole masses of the people are beginning to profess unbelief—at first because of the darkness and lies by which they were surrounded; but now out of fanaticism, out of loathing for the Church and Christianity!†
Chpt 4.7
Definition:
hate, detest, or intensely dislike
Word Confusion: Do not confuse loathe with loath which sounds very similar or the same. Loathe is a verb while loath is an adjective describing "reluctance or unwillingness to do something." Note that loathing and loathsome are forms of the verb loathe even though both word forms lack the "e". Occasionally, you will see loath spelled as loathe even in a published book, but it is rare enough that it is generally considered an error rather than a non-standard spelling.