Scorn
WordNet

noun


(1)   Open disrespect for a person or thing
(2)   Lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
"He was held in contempt"
"The despite in which outsiders were held is legendary"

verb


(3)   Reject with contempt
"She spurned his advances"
(4)   Look down on with disdain
"He despises the people he has to work for"
"The professor scorns the students who don't catch on immediately"
WiktionaryText

Etymology


Alteration of escarn (cognate with Spanish escarnio and Italian scherno).

Verb



  1. To feel or display contempt or disdain for something or somebody; to despise.
  2. To scoff, express contempt
  3. To reject, turn down
    She scorned his romantic advances.

Noun



  1. Contempt or disdain towards a despicable or unworthy person
  2. A display of disdain; A slight.

Quotations

  • circa 1605: The cry is still 'They come': our castle's strength / Will laugh a siege to scornWilliam Shakespeare, Macbeth
  • 1967: Rain of tears, real, mist of imagined scorn — John Berryman, Berryman's Sonnets. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
 
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