scorn

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“
But the scorn was all upon the surface.

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Definitions (26)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. noun Contempt or disdain felt toward a person or object considered despicable or unworthy.
  2. noun The expression of such an attitude in behavior or speech; derision.
  3. noun One spoken of or treated with contempt.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (13)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

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Examples (50)

  • The papers issued by the Belgian Government with regard to the Congo show a distinct weakening of attitude on our part.... In the Belgian despatch they treat us with contempt, with a sort of lofty scorn which is almost inconceivable. —  The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke, Vol. 2
  • Of course this time the object of their scorn is a representative of the real America that Democrats pretend to represent. —  Anti-Strib
  • She did not know to what the words referred, but, in her haste and jealousy she utterly misinterpreted the situation, and her scorn was as much for herself as for Stane as she thought how she had grown to love a man who The thought was an intolerable one. —  A Mating in the Wilds
  • Therein lay his one hope of regeneration; her scorn was the moral antiseptic that he needed, her comprehension the one balm that could heal him When they left the dinner he was so afraid of speaking that he let her drive home alone, and went to the club with Flamel IX HE rose next morning with the resolve to know what Alexa thought of him. —  The Touchstone
  • And this scorn is the most pitiful page in man's history. —  Atlantis
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Suggestions Wordniks Suggest

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

contempt ·  indignation ·  reproach ·  derision ·  bitterness ·  pity ·  irony ·  defiance ·  astonishment ·  shame ·  disgust ·  disappointment

Used in the same contextWord Family

scorn:   scorned
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 (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old French escarn, of Germanic origin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English also skorn; from Middle English scorn, assibilated schorn, with orig. vowel scarn, skarn, assibilated scharn, rarely also scare, from Old French escarn, assibilated escharn, eschern, with loss of terminal consonant escar, eschar = Provencal esquern = Spanish escarnio = Portuguese escarneo = Italian scherno, scorno, mockery, derision, scorn, from Old High German skern, scern, Middle High German schern = Old Low German scern = MD, scherne, mockery, derision; cf. Old Bulgarian skrienja, scurrility, Latin scurra, a jester (see scurril). The change of the vowel (Middle English scarn to scorn) arose in the verb, which became confused in Old French and Italian with another word: see scorn, v.
  2. Early modern English also skorn; from Middle English scornen, skornen, assibilated schornen, with orig. vowel scarnen, skarnen, from Old French escarnir, eskarnir, eskernir, esquiernir, assibilated escharnir, eschernir, echarnir, echernir, acharnir, achernir, transposed escrenir, also later escorner = Provencal esquernir, escarnir, schirnir = Spanish Portuguese escarnecer = Italian schernire, scornare, mock, scoff, scorn, from Old High German skirnōn, skernōn, scernon, Middle High German schernen = Middle Dutch schernen, mock, deride, from Old High German skern, etc., mockery, derision, scorn: see scorn, n. The later forms of the verb, Old French escorner, Italian scornare, scorn, were due to confusion with Old French escorner = Italian scornare, deprive of the horns, deprive of honor or ornament, disgrace (from Latin ex-, out, + cornu, horn); hence the change of vowel in the English verb, to which the noun then conformed.
 

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/skɔrn/
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