MEANING
1. Strong dislike or hatred mixed with moral disapproval or disgust.
2. The public disgrace that comes from being strongly disliked or condemned.
Use it for
describing hostility that also condemns conduct; showing public dislike rather than a private irritation; distinguishing moral revulsion from simple disagreementSeparates intense condemning dislike from the public disgrace that attaches to its target. Writing functions: Hostility / Reputation.
Words that belong together
- public odium
- universal odium
- attract odium
On the page
The decree attracted odium even among those who had supported the council.
His defence of the practice exposed the family to an odium they had not anticipated.
The minister wanted the reform enacted without bearing the odium of imposing it.
The odium attached to the decision outlasted the committee that had made it.
Word forms
- Base
- odium
Usage notes
Usually uncountable: odium. Common patterns incur odium, attract odium, odium attaches to. No ordinary plural needed. Register: formal. Commonness: uncommon (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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