obnoxious

Definition

Extremely offensive or unpleasant; very annoying, contemptible, or odious.

Etymology

PIE word *h₁epi Learned borrowing from Latin obnoxiōsus (“subject to someone, under someone’s authority”) + English -ous (suffix denoting the presence of a quality in any degree, typically an abundance). Obnoxiōsus is derived from obnoxius (“guilty, punishable; subject to someone, under someone’s authority”) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; overly; prone to’, forming adjectives from nouns).

Example Sentences

• "Throwing stones at the bus is another example of your obnoxious behaviour."
• "The disturbance had commenced, like those of England, in the refusal of the parliament to sanction an obnoxious tax; but here all resemblance ended."
• "For my part, thumb-marks [in books] I find very obnoxious—far more so than the spoiling of the binding."

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