contemn

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Definitions (6)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. transitive verb To view with contempt; despise. See Synonyms at despise.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples

  • Even in extreme cases of debasement she found more to admire than to contemn, and won the confidence of the fallen by manifesting her real respect. —  Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli
  • It is pleasant to consider, that, had it not been for the good nature of these very mortals they contemn, these two superior beings were entitled, by their birth and hereditary fortune, to be only a couple of link-boys. —  Lady Mary Wortley Montague
  • “I contemn,” he said in his History, “as not worth mentioning, the suggestions of some people, of my being employed thither to carry on the interest of a party. —  Daniel Defoe
  • Proudly they learn all mankind to contemn, —  Daniel Defoe
  • I said, "What's your salary, Dr. Mac-Donald?" —  The Satan Bug
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English contempnen, to slight, from Latin contemnere : com-, intensive pref.; see com- + temnere, to despise.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Latin contemnere, past participle contemptus, despise, from com- (intensive) + temnere, despise.
 

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/kənˈtɛm/
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