be detestable

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"Let them," said the Queen, "be brought away only by their own consent, otherwise the act will be detestable, and bring down the vengeance of heaven upon us."

From Twenty-Two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman Embracing a Correspondence of Several Years, While President of Wilberforce Colony, London, Canada West by Steward, Austin

The first is enchantment, which I need not describe, and of which I will speak no more, because it is what everybody knows to be detestable, and nobody ought to know the art thereof.

From The History of the Life and Adventures of Mr. Duncan Campell A Gentlen, who, tho' Deaf and Dumb, Writes down any Stranger's name at first Sight; by Defoe, Daniel

An ornament that would be admirable applied to one object, might be detestable if applied to another.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 598, June 18, 1887 by Various

At any rate, it isn't the kind of a joke I make—it would be detestable.

From Arsene Lupin by Leblanc, Maurice

It proved when it came to be detestable; I could not put it to my lips; and Bellairs, who had as much palate as a weevil, was left to finish it himself.

From The Wrecker by Stevenson, Robert Louis