loathe

To loathe something is to hate it so completely that being near it turns your stomach. The smell at the fish counter, the sound of someone chewing beside you, a voice on the radio you cannot sit through.

It is stronger than dislike and more physical than hate, because you loathe what disgusts you. It takes a plain object or an -ing form: she loathes small talk, he loathes standing in queues. The noun is loathing, the adjective is loathsome, as in a loathsome little man, and self-loathing turns the whole thing inward. The real trap is loath, spelled without the e and said with a soft th, which means reluctant, as in I am loath to ask her again. One letter apart, and almost opposite in feeling: loath is polite hesitation, loathe is disgust.