obnoxious

Meaning

1. Extremely offensive or unpleasant; very annoying, contemptible, or odious.
2. Unjustly disagreeable, argumentative or objectionable; brazenly rude.
3. Exposed or vulnerable to something, especially harm or injury.
4. (obsolete) Causing harm or injury; harmful, hurtful, injurious.
5. (obsolete) Deserving of blame or punishment; blameworthy, guilty.
6. (obsolete) Under the authority or power of someone; subject, subordinate; hence, deferential, submissive, subservient.
7. (obsolete) Followed by to: likely to do something.

Synonyms

odious

repugnant

abominable

offensive

abhorrent

hateful

nasty

loathsome

unpleasant

objectionable

repulsive

distasteful

foul

detestable

disagreeable

disgusting

execrable

insufferable

obscene

repellent

revolting

vile

dire

hideous

horrible

horrid

hurtful

icky

improper

inconsistent

off-putting

intolerable

invidious

loath

deathly

lousy

maddening

deadly

nauseous

nefarious

noisome

dark

unlikable

beastly

awful

pestiferous

piggish

poisonous

provoking

rebarbative

unwished-for

aversive

antipathetic

untempting

rowdy

sordid

ugly

unattractive

unbearable

unendurable

unfit

uninviting

unlikeable

abject

unsavoury

unsufferable

unsuited

unsupportable

unsympathetic

unwelcome

unwished

verminous

loathful

villainous

excruciating

wretched

flagitious

forbidding

displeasing

hated

Translations

odieux

désagréable

molesto

desagradable

widerlich

ennuyeux

iğrenç

onaangenaam

anstößig

widerwärtig

Hyphenated as

ob‧noxi‧ous

Pronounced as (IPA)

/əbˈnɒkʃəs/

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).