The words on this list are applied to a person or thing which arouses dislike, distaste, hostility or opposition. Obnoxious is used to refer to that which is extremely disagreeable or even disgusting to one’s personal feelings, ideas or tastes. Very often the reasons for viewing something as obnoxious are largely subjective, but they are nevertheless strong enough to make one try to avoid the obnoxious person or thing.

• I can’t stand him – he’s a thoroughly obnoxious young man who thinks he knows everything.

Hateful and odious describe that which excites intense dislike or aversion, the former usually suggesting an attendant feeling of enmity, the latter associated with contempt or repugnance. Although the words are sometimes used interchangeably, hateful implies an angry mental response to something that outrages or arouses violent antipathy: the hateful animosity of resentful bigots toward anti-capital punishment campaigners. Odious often suggests something so disgusting that it evokes a physical as well as a moral or intellectual response: getting sick to one’s stomach upon reading of the odious atrocities committed in a Nazi concentration camp.

Offensive is the mildest word in this list. It has wide application and can be used to characterize anyone or anything that is unpleasant or disagreeable: the offensive sight of garbage in a home-unit driveway; a series of offensive remarks that finally led to a bitter argument.