reprehensible
/ˌɹɛpɹɪˈhɛnsɪb(ə)l/
reprehensible means blameworthy, censurable, guilty. It carries an Arena rating of 1585, earned across 10 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, reprehensible ranks #2,559 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #3,416 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #3,635 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #4,383 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
reprehensible is pronounced /ˌɹɛpɹɪˈhɛnsɪb(ə)l/.
Why “reprehensible” is a great word
Deserving of strong moral condemnation or censure; blameworthy. From Late Latin reprehensibilis ("blamable"), from Latin reprehendere ("to seize, blame, censure"), from re- (intensive) + prehendere ("to grasp, seize"), first attested in English in the late 14th century. Unlike "culpable," which often denotes a dry, legalistic responsibility, or "objectionable," a milder term for mere dislike, reprehensible carries the full weight of ethical revulsion. It is the cold premeditation in a betrayal, the casual cruelty of a public lie, or the systematic greed that hollows out a community's trust—a word that does not merely judge but condemns, pressing down like a cold hand on the shoulder of conscience.
Etymology
Borrowed from Late Latin reprehensibilis, from Latin reprehendo; equivalent to reprehend + -ible.
adj
- Blameworthy, censurable, guilty.
- Deserving of reprehension.e.g.“Scarlett O’Hara was the heroine of the novel/movie Gone with the Wind and the reprehensible sequel Scarlett.” — 1998, Greg Morrow, Dylan Verheul, “Sandman 14”, in The Sandman Annotations, archived from the original on 25 Jul 2008:
noun
- A reprehensible person; a villain.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.