abominate
/əˈbɒm.əˌneɪt/
"abominate" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“abominate” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as an adjective - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Abominable; detested.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | abominate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /əˈbɒm.əˌneɪt/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “abominate” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for abominate is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈbɒm.əˌneɪt/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Abominable; detested.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for abominate, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested in 1644. Perhaps a back-formation from abomination. Alternatively, perhaps from Late Latin abōminātus, past participle of abōminarī (“to deprecate as an ill omen”), from ab + ominari (“to forebode, presage”), from omen. The correct English form is abominate, spelled A-B-O-M-I-N-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1Abominable; detested.
Etymology
First attested in 1644. Perhaps a back-formation from abomination. Alternatively, perhaps from Late Latin abōminātus, past participle of abōminarī (“to deprecate as an ill omen”), from ab + ominari (“to forebode, presage”), from omen.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “abominate”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-B-O-M-I-N-A-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈbɒm.əˌneɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.