Question

what does loathsome mean as it is used in the following lines of act IV, scene three of Romeo and Juliet?

Juliet: or, if I live, is it, not very like the horrible conceit of death and night, together with the terror of this place, as in a vault, and ancient receptacle, where, for this many hundred years years, the bones of all my berry ancestors are packed; where bloody tybalt, yet but green in earth lies festering in his shroud; Where, as they say, at some hours, in the night, spirits resort; alack, alack, it is not like that I, so early, waking, what with loathsome smells, and streaks, like mandrakes, torn out of the Earth, that living mortals, hearing them, run mad;

Horrible

Different

Sharp

Aromatic

Answer 1

Loathsome in this context means disgusting or repulsive. It is describing the smells and sights of the vault where Juliet fears she will be entombed.