obnoxious

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. adjective causing disapproval or protest

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).

In classic literature

Synonyms

objectionable

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