disgust
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.a strong feeling of dislike or being grossed out by something.
n.a feeling of intense revulsion or strong disapproval aroused by something unpleasant or offensive. Uncountable in most contexts.
Simple“He looked at the pile of rotting rubbish with total disgust.”
In context“The public expressed widespread disgust at the news that the company had been dumping toxic waste into the local river for years.”
PitfallShe felt disgust for the way he treated her. She felt disgust at the way he treated her.While 'for' is sometimes used, 'at' or 'with' are the standard prepositions to describe the cause of the disgust.
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to make someone feel a strong sense of dislike or disapproval.
v.to provoke a feeling of revulsion or strong disapproval in someone. Transitive — requires a direct object.
Simple“The smell of the old milk disgusted her so much she had to leave.”
In context“The blatant corruption within the department disgusted the young officer, eventually leading to his resignation from the force.”
“Dogs will, for example, choose a box their human has identified with a happy expression over one the human treats with fear or disgust.”
Borrowed from Middle French desgouster, from Old French desgouster (“to put off one's appetite”), from des- (“dis-”) + gouster, goster (“to taste”), from Latin gustus (“a tasting”). By surface analysis, dis- + gust (“taste”). The noun is from Middle French desgoust, from the verb.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.