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Manser, Martin H. "abomination of desolation." Writer's Reference Center. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 17 Apr. 2025. <http://fofweb.infobase.com/wrc/Detail.aspx?iPin=DOA00011>.
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abomination of desolation

Definition 
Something loathsome or disgusting. The expression comes from the Old Testament book of Daniel (9:27; 11:31; 12:11; see also Matthew 24:15–21) and is thought to allude to a pagan altar to Zeus that was erected in the Temple on the orders of Antiochus Epiphanes. In Daniel, the sacrilege was seen as an abomination, a horror that made the Temple emptied, or desolate, of God. "In truth all that night had been the abomination of desolation to me" (Joseph Conrad, The Arrow of Gold, 1919).

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