Obnoxious Meaning
/əbˈnɒkʃəs/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjExtremely offensive or unpleasant; very annoying, contemptible, or odious.
adjUnjustly disagreeable, argumentative or objectionable; brazenly rude.
Sentence Examples
Tom was rude and obnoxious.
Lawyers and real estate agents are rich or obnoxious.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
His ____ behavior, such as shouting and insulting others, made everyone leave the party.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The customer's ____ behavior at the restaurant caused several other diners to leave in frustration.
Word Origin & History
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).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The disturbance had commenced, like those of England, in the refusal of the parliament to sanction an obnoxious tax; but here all resemblance ended."
— 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 74:
"For my part, thumb-marks [in books] I find very obnoxious—far more so than the spoiling of the binding."
— 1867, George MacDonald, “Sermon on God and Mammon”, in Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood […], volume I, London: Hurst and Blackett, publishers, successors to Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 359:
"Someone jolted my arm and the contents of my glass spilled onto an immaculate white dress. I felt obnoxious."
— 1989, Antônio Torres, Blues for a Lost Childhood: A Novel of Brazil, Columbia, La.: Readers International, →ISBN, page 41:
"I would have been nine or ten when my mother chased me up a thorn tree with a ceremonial hippo-hide whip. What my crime was, I forget. My mother was, and remains, a woman of exceptional forbearance. I must have done something so obnoxious as to beggar belief."
— 2003, David Bennun, “After the Earthquake”, in Tick Bite Fever, London: Ebury Press, published 2004, →ISBN, page 109:
"He felt obnoxious and knew perfectly well that he would have no explanation whatsoever had anyone discovered him, but she looked so alluring, so untroubled, so fortunate, that his only concern was the terrible crack the shutter made...quiet as it was."
— 2013, Molly Cutpurse [pseudonym?], chapter 5, in Dark Man, [United Kingdom]: [Lulu.com], →ISBN, page 44:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
His ____ behavior, such as shouting and insulting others, made everyone leave the party.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The customer's ____ behavior at the restaurant caused several other diners to leave in frustration.