Memory connection
Picture “a boar”
A filthy boar splashes sludge across a clean kitchen. The sight makes everyone recoil: a boar they truly abhor.
The sound cue helps you reach the scene; the action in the scene carries you from the scene to the definition.
Use it accurately
Meaning in context
She abhors cruelty and refuses to excuse it as tradition.
Although they disagreed on policy, both candidates professed to abhor political violence.
Abhor is much stronger than dislike. It expresses moral revulsion, hatred, or deep disgust.
Common patterns
- abhor violence
- abhor the idea
- profess to abhor
Quick check
Can you retrieve the meaning?
If you abhor a practice, how do you feel about it?
Choose an answer, then explain it in your own words.