Since the oldest times, the church has been at war with Science. The Church doesn’t want its narrow beliefs to be outlawed by scientific theories. The new generation finds this action completely abhorrent. The Catholics on the other hand consider new scientific ideas as aberrant for deviating from the set standards.
The terms aberrant and abhorrent can be very confusing since they are both adjectives and describe something negative. Abhorrent describes something horrible or completely repulsive. Aberrant on the other hand, describes something that has strayed from the norm or is abnormal. You’d like to note that abhorrent is always judgmental but aberrant can be descriptive along with being judgmental. When used in a descriptive way, it denotes something that has strayed from its path. For example, a star that strayed to an aberrant orbit. In most of the sentences, you would be able to swap the terms with each other just because of their negative connotation but such a usage is not recommended because the two words have completely distinct meanings. In a person’s real life, aberrant behavior and thoughts can, however, be changed into abhorrent behavior and thoughts.
If you are trying to learn and memorize these terms then we highly recommend you thoroughly go through the content below.
Abhorrent vs aberrant – definitions, meanings and example sentences
Definition of abhorrent
Abhorrent is an adjective. You can use the word when you find something so horrible that it makes you repel. The word abhorrent has its roots in the Latin term ‘abhorentem’ which entered the English vocabulary in the early seventeenth century. The root word translates to a condition of recoiling. The noun version is abhorrence and the adverb is abhorrently. Abhorrent also has several verb forms, abhor, abhorring, abhors and, abhorred.
Example sentences of abhorrent
- Human trafficking and organ hoarding are two abhorrent crimes that are on the rise these days.
Anyone who hears about these crimes finds them instantly hateful and that’s why the word abhorrent has been used to describe them.
- The Hindu caste system is completely abhorrent. It says that all people are born unequal and each person’s prestige is determined through their caste and heritage.
The Hindu caste system utilizes a system of hierarchy. It’s hard to believe that such an ideology is still in existence. The thought of man being born unequal is completely outrageous. Each person is born equal and their rights or privileges don’t depend on their blood or caste.
- Most people find animal slaughter abhorrent. If they are motivated enough they can even revoke their habits of ingesting meat and become vegetarians.
Animals are intelligent beings that have feelings as well. Cruelty on animals is completely unacceptable. Most people who find animal slaughtering repulsive end up becoming vegetarians.
Definition of aberrant
Aberrant is an adjective that describes something abnormal or uncommon. It can also be something that has strayed from its path. Its Latin and French core is ‘aberrantam’ which means wandering off. The core term from which the modern term has evolved had originally been related to making a mistake. Related noun forms are aberration, aberrance and, aberrancy. Aberrantly is its adverb form.
Example sentences of aberrant
- Acting provokes aberrant mood swings in actors. This is because acting out personalities other than their own can influence their personalities in a weird way.
Acting is a difficult career. It is very demanding and can be very strenuous. Many actors witness uncharacteristic fluctuations in their mood after they’ve started acting.
- Findings have shown that planet Uranus has moved in an aberrant path many times (a path other than its calculated orbit). Astronomers point out that this might be a sign that there is another undiscovered planet out there.
This sentence reiterates the latest news from the world of Astronomy. There is much that still remains undiscovered in our solar system. According to the latest findings, scientists say that Planet Uranus has strayed from its defined orbit multiple times elucidating that there might be another undiscovered planet out there.
- Jamie’s aberrant conduct is going to get him into trouble if he doesn’t revoke his bad habits soon.
Jamie’s behavior wasn’t typical or usual and that’s why the word aberrant is used. If the boy didn’t change his bad habits soon he would probably be kicked out from school.
We hope we’ve clarified the meanings and usage of abhorrent and aberrant so far. Many people end up confusing these terms because they are very close in their meanings. One cannot mistake them while pronouncing since abhorrent sounds like ‘uhb-ho-ruhnt’ while aberrant sounds like ‘uh-beh-ruhnt.’ In order to commit their meanings to memory remember that, ‘abhorrent’ has an ‘h’ and, h is for horrible. The other term ‘aberrant’ just means abnormal.
