Skip to main content

Repugnant vs Repellent vs Abhorrent vs Distasteful vs Obnoxious vs Invidious

Repugnantrepellentabhorrentdistastefulobnoxiousinvidious are comparable when they mean so alien or unlikable as to arouse antagonism and aversion.

Repugnant is applied to something so incompatible with one’s ideas, principles, or tastes as to stir up resistance and loathing.

Repellent usually implies a forbidding or unlovely character in something that causes one to back away from it.

Abhorrent (see also HATEFUL ) is applied to something that is incapable of association or existence with something else, and it often implies profound antagonism.

Distasteful is applied to something that one instinctively shrinks from not because it in itself is necessarily unlikable but because it is contrary to one’s particular taste or inclination.

Obnoxious is applied to what is so highly objectionable, usually on personal grounds, that one cannot endure the sight or presence of it or him with equanimity.

Invidious is applied to something that cannot be used (as a word) or made (as a distinction) or undertaken (as task or project) without arousing or creating ill will, envy or resentment.