What's the difference between abhor and despise?

Abhor


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To shrink back with shuddering from; to regard with horror or detestation; to feel excessive repugnance toward; to detest to extremity; to loathe.
  • (v. t.) To fill with horror or disgust.
  • (v. t.) To protest against; to reject solemnly.
  • (v. i.) To shrink back with horror, disgust, or dislike; to be contrary or averse; -- with

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Surely this is a government which abhors unnecessary interference with legal market activity and pledges death to red tape.
  • (2) MrMopp ‘As a traditional Labour voter I abhor its abandonment of its traditional voters’ I have been a Labour voter for 30 years, but will be voting for Ukip in the forthcoming general election.
  • (3) Many of those who have left the taps of infection still open are more likely to listen to him than to others that talk a language that they abhor.
  • (4) The other caste – CEOs, industrialists, wealthy professionals, and pundits who abhorred Grillo until the end of last week, are now praising him.
  • (5) I’m still not sure what it means but I think it’s something like pretending to abhor public decapitation to elicit approval while secretly loving it.
  • (6) Sexist chanting at Chelsea’s Eva Carneiro cannot be swept under the carpet | Owen Gibson Read more A Chelsea spokesman said: “The issue of equality is one we take extremely seriously and we abhor discrimination in all its forms, including sexism.
  • (7) "We know these people act in the name of Islam but we also know the vast and overwhelming majority of Muslims here and abroad are decent and law-abiding people who abhor this act of terrorism," he said in a televised statement from Downing Street.
  • (8) Yemen's 23 million citizens, among the poorest in the Arab world, have many grievances: the government is widely seen as corrupt and is abhorred for its association with the US in fighting al-Qaida.
  • (9) Yet Russell hated Hollywood, regarding the whole place as deeply corrupt and horribly predicated towards the kind of timidity and compromise he abhorred.
  • (10) Buyers’ remorse is said to be gripping some casual Brexit voters, just as it gripped some Corbyn backers last year Like nature, politics abhors a vacuum, and the risk always exists that bad men, bad women too, may move quickly into that space.
  • (11) Water may "abhor" the hydrophobic side of the channel, explaining the small effects of residue charge changes on ion selectivity.
  • (12) This is a moment of truth for the clear majority in the international community who abhor these war crimes: do we take back the initiative to save lives or watch paralysed as we did in Rwanda?
  • (13) Sessions said: “I abhor the Klan and what it represents, and its hateful ideology.” He denied ever condemning the activities of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as “un-American” or describing a white attorney in Alabama as a race traitor.
  • (14) Not pounds and pence, plans and policies, but people.” In a moment of arch-mischief, he thanked his dumbfounded tribe for their part in backing causes many of them still abhor: “It wasn’t just me who put social justice, equality for gay people, tackling climate change, and helping the world’s poorest at the centre of the Conservative party’s mission – we all did.” You could see them looking at one another, as if to say: did we?
  • (15) You will know that the Sunday Times abhors antisemitism and would never set out to cause offence to the Jewish people – or any other ethnic or religious group.
  • (16) And one hopes, too, that those who abhor Mo Yan's timidity would manifest a finer awareness of their inherited assumptions of moral superiority and advantages of cultural power – those that create the illusion that writers in "free" societies are invariably correct, even ideologically neutral, and those elsewhere egregiously and objectionably political.
  • (17) I can no longer do what I and others did in 2008, putting to one side the statements, insults and gestures that had offended me, my fellow Jews and – one hopes – every Londoner who abhors prejudice.
  • (18) And, at the risk of being called a Ukip supporter again, much as I abhor the Conservatives’ tax and spending plans, I would absolutely defend the idea that Westminster should be where the budget is decided.
  • (19) Ivens said the Sunday Times "abhors antisemitism and would never set out to cause offence to the Jewish people".
  • (20) Gently grilled, or fried till crisp – not 'crispy', a description Elizabeth David abhorred.

Despise


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To look down upon with disfavor or contempt; to contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have a low opinion or contemptuous dislike of.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Indeed, it is democracy itself that the markets seem to despise.
  • (2) We were immediately sure he despised the movie more than any of the other Hollywood McCarthy adaptations – and there had been a few stinkers.
  • (3) Disowned by family and despised by public opinion, she is now in prison.
  • (4) The militant group, which despises foreign intervention, has expelled numerous international and local aid groups from the territory it controls.
  • (5) First, medicine was despised as a mechanical art or suspected of paganism because of its literary sources.
  • (6) How would you describe a person with an adoring sister and admiring father creating a child despised by father and siblings?
  • (7) In the wake of plunging costs in global market, prices on the forecourt have fallen much faster than household heating bills, which may be why petrol and oil companies are less despised than home energy suppliers – also being named by 26%.
  • (8) He has been derided in these pages, but that derision is surpassed by the venomous hatred of the Daily Mail , which loathes the Cameron government in any case and particularly despised Mitchell in his previous job.
  • (9) "I've always despised it to a certain degree but after this last few years and all this nonsense with the films, I believe it to be a completely poisonous place that isn't really going anywhere.
  • (10) Though he despised “race-baiting”, Noir wrote, “covert racism is a real thing and is very dangerous.
  • (11) So far, concerns about reproductions creeping on to the collectibles market seem greater than any worries about the reintroduction of objects that resurrect old, despised stereotypes.
  • (12) It's a melancholy fate for any writer to become an eponym for all that he despised, but that is what happened to George Orwell, whose memory is routinely abused in unthinking uses of the adjective "Orwellian".
  • (13) What an irony that our own MPs and peers, who complain so bitterly about the draining of British sovereignty to Brussels, were not trusted to discuss this issue – while the despised European parliament has, over the past year, freely, intelligently, intricately and repeatedly addressed it.
  • (14) The group despised the liberal socialism of the dominant Labour Zionists and its goal was an "Iron Wall" to defend Jews against what they deemed would be an inevitable backlash by Arabs.
  • (15) They were never aggressive, they were never forcing it down your throat … but you were left with no illusions looking at their social media that they were a) Chelsea fans and b) Ukip supporters.” He said he “despised” racism and described the actions on the film as appalling, adding that it in no way represented the views of most people at his former school.
  • (16) Vronsky, who had despised Karenin because he wouldn't fight a duel, is now humiliated and dishonoured; Karenin, flooded with forgiveness for everyone, wins back Anna's respect.
  • (17) He promised to take us "to the heart of Europe", but left behind a country more Europhobic than ever – and more despised in a Europe that he berated to appease Rupert Murdoch.
  • (18) They despised Bond's characters, his "slavishly literal bawdry", the lack of artistry in his writing.
  • (19) Malone, who was made a billionaire several times over by the AT&T deal, despised being answerable to the parent company's board and wanted out.
  • (20) Johnson was despised on the right and left by the time he was driven from office in 1968.