heinous

****************************************************************
The word's out! Rake in thousands of new words and meanings
with the Eleventh Edition of our Collegiate Dictionary!
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/book.pl?c11.htm&1
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for November 22 is:

heinous   \HAY-nuss\   adjective
     : hatefully or shockingly evil : abominable

Example sentence:
     The hottest video game this holiday season once again features a brawny 
hero who battles heinous beasts with his highly advanced arsenal of weapons.

Did you know?
     Humans have contrasted love with hate and good with evil for eons, putting 
love and good on one side and hate and evil on the other. The etymology and 
development of "heinous" reflects the association of hate with that which is 
evil or horrible. During the 14th century, English borrowed "heinous" from the 
Anglo-French adjective "hainus" (same meaning as our English word), which in 
turn derives from the Anglo-French noun "haine," meaning "hate." English 
speakers have long used "heinous" to reflect the sense of horror evoked by 
intense hatred typically toward flagrantly criminal or wicked offenses and sins.