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Is there a word for hating a person you don't know, but you hate because of something he did.

I hate the person who checked my exam copy. (whoever that is)

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    In my opinion the "person I don't know" part would be more easily expressed not in the verb "hate" but in the way we describe "who". So "I hate whoever checked my exam" implies we don't know this person. Equally, "I hate whoever it was that checked my exam" would work.
    – JMB
    May 25, 2015 at 10:20
  • Maybe this belongs in english.stackexchange.com. They have lots of "word for x?" questions there. May 25, 2015 at 21:22
  • @JMB - (Your comment should probably be an answer.) We can also say, "I hate people who cheat on exams" when we want to talk about the general case, rather than one specific instance.
    – J.R.
    Aug 30, 2015 at 8:19

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Hate is an interesting word in English. Conversationally, it can express many negative sentiments. For example:

I hate having to scrape the ice off my windshield in the morning!

means:

I wish I had a garage where I could park my car!

As for what you asked:

Is there a word for hating a person you don't know, but you hate because of something he did.

I agree with StoneyB; I can't think of a single word that captures this, and none of the related words I found on Wordnik offered much help.

However, we can do this in English by using a couple stock phrases. We can use "the way" (or "how") to reference the behavoir, and "that person" (or "this person") to hint that we don't know the individual. For example, we might say:

I hate the way that guy cheated off my exam.

or:

There was this student sitting next to me – I hate how she copied the answers from my test!

I think both of those reasonably capture the essence of "hating a person you don't know, because of something they did."


In English, there is an oft-used phrase: Don't hate the person, hate the action. I think my suggested sentences might lean toward that side of things: one could read them, and notice that the hate isn't necessarily directed at the people, but at the act of cheating. Still, it can be hard to disassociate an action with the people who do it. But now I'm waxing philosophic.

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There is no particular verb to express hating so narrowly defined an object.

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