hateful

hateful — adjective

1. so unpleasant or cruel that it makes you feel strong dislike or anger toward it.

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

so unpleasant or cruel that it makes you feel strong dislike or anger toward it.

Example

The hotel room was small and dirty — a truly hateful experience for the guests.

collocation: hateful experience

Ravi found the hateful comments on his post upsetting for days.

collocation: hateful comments

Common collocations
  • hateful comment
  • hateful remark
  • hateful experience
  • hateful behaviour
Synonyms
  • horrible

    stronger on causing fear or shock; more general in use

  • nasty

    more informal, implies a mean or spiteful edge

  • awful

    more general and slightly weaker; used for everyday complaints

Antonyms
  • pleasant

    the direct opposite in terms of experience or quality

  • lovely

    warmer and more positive, often for personal experiences

Grammar Patterns

hateful + noun

be + hateful

be + hateful + to/towards + noun

Usage Note

Commonly describes remarks, behaviour, experiences, or situations. Stronger than unpleasant — implies an emotional or moral reaction, not just a matter of taste.

Common Mistakes

She made a hateful mistake on the test.
She made a terrible mistake on the test.
hateful describes things that feel offensive or cruel, not simple errors.
I feel hateful about missing the bus.
I feel awful about missing the bus.
hateful describes what something IS, not how you feel about it.

2. driven by strong hatred, shown through cruel or spiteful behaviour toward others

2.adjectiveB2
Definition

driven by strong hatred, shown through cruel or spiteful behaviour toward others.

Example

The old woman's hateful glare made the children hide behind their mother.

collocation: hateful glare/stare

Nadia could not understand why her neighbour sent such a hateful letter.

Common collocations
  • hateful glare
  • hateful stare
  • hateful letter
  • hateful attitude
  • hateful words
Synonyms
  • malicious

    similar strength, more precisely about intending harm

  • spiteful

    more about petty, small-scale meanness

  • vindictive

    focused on revenge or payback

Antonyms
  • kind

    the direct opposite in disposition and behaviour

  • loving

    warmer, implies genuine affection

Grammar Patterns

hateful + noun

be + hateful

be + hateful + to/towards + noun

Usage Note

Describes a person’s inner disposition rather than an external quality. Frequently paired with nouns like stare, letter, attitude, words to show hostility through specific behaviour.

Common Mistakes

He looked at me hateful.
He gave me a hateful look.
hateful is an adjective, not an adverb; use hatefully for the adverbial form.
The food tasted hateful.
The food tasted terrible.
sense 2 describes a person’s hostile disposition, not the flavour of something.

3. deserving to be hated because of a fundamentally evil or deeply wrong nature.

3.adjectiveC1
Definition

deserving to be hated because of a fundamentally evil or deeply wrong nature.

Example

The general's hateful orders caused great suffering among the villagers.

Spreading false rumours about a classmate is a hateful and cowardly act.

collocation: hateful act

Common collocations
  • hateful act
  • hateful crime
  • hateful policy
  • hateful regime
Synonyms
  • despicable

    focuses on being contemptible and worthy of scorn

  • abhorrent

    more formal, suggests strong moral disgust

  • loathsome

    emphasises causing physical or emotional revulsion

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

hateful + noun

be + hateful

consider + noun + hateful

Usage Note

This sense carries a moral judgement — the speaker is saying that something deserves hatred, not just that it causes unpleasant feelings. Unlike sense 1, it is not used for minor annoyances or personal dislikes. Common in formal writing about ethics, politics, or serious wrongdoing.

Common Mistakes

I found the movie hateful because it was boring.
I found the movie boring.
this sense requires a moral reason, not personal taste.
His hateful behaviour at the party' (when meaning he was rude).
Use sense 1 for rudeness; sense 3 is for actions that truly deserve hatred, like cruelty or betrayal.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Hateful, horrible, nasty, awful, and obnoxious all describe very unpleasant things, but they differ in strength and use. Hateful is the strongest — it suggests a deep emotional or moral reaction, as in 'his hateful comments about her family.' Horrible focuses on causing fear or shock ('a horrible accident'), while awful is more general and slightly weaker ('awful weather'). Nasty is more informal and implies a mean, spiteful edge ('a nasty remark'). Obnoxious describes someone whose behaviour is aggressively annoying ('an obnoxious guest'). Use hateful when something is not just bad but genuinely offensive to your values or feelings.

horrible ↗nasty ↗awful ↗obnoxious

Common collocations

Adverbs

  • truly hateful
  • genuinely hateful
  • deeply hateful

Prepositions

  • hateful to
  • hateful towards

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Hateful comes from two Old English words: hete (meaning 'hate' or 'enmity') and the suffix -full (meaning 'full of'). The original meaning was 'full of hate' (the sense 2 meaning). Over time the word developed the wider meanings of 'causing hate' (sense 3) and 'very unpleasant' (sense 1).