Adjacent Words

Contemptuous definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CONTEMPTUOUS, a. Manifesting or expressing contempt or disdain; scornful; as contemptuous language or manner; a contemptuous opinion. Applied to men, apt to despise; haughty; insolent; as a nation, proud, severe, contemptuous.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: expressing extreme contempt [syn: contemptuous, disdainful, insulting, scornful]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Latin contemptus Date: 1574 manifesting, feeling, or expressing contempt • contemptuously adverb • contemptuousness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. (often foll. by of) showing contempt, scornful; insolent. Derivatives: contemptuously adv. Etymology: med.L contemptuosus f. L contemptus (as contempt)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Contemptuous Con*temp"tu*ous (?; 135), a. Manifesting or expressing contempt or disdain; scornful; haughty; insolent; disdainful. A proud, contemptuous behavior. --Hammond. Savage invective and contemptuous sarcasm. --Macaulay. Rome . . . entertained the most contemptuous opinion of the Jews. --Atterbury. Syn: Scornful; insolent; haughty; disdainful; supercilious; insulting; contumelious. Usage: Contemptuous, Contemptible. These words, from their similarity of sound, are sometimes erroneously interchanged, as when a person speaks of having ``a very contemptible opinion of another.'' Contemptible is applied to that which is the object of contempt; as, contemptible conduct; acontemptible fellow. Contemptuous is applied to that which indicates contempt; as, a contemptuous look; a contemptuous remark; contemptuous treatment. A person, or whatever is personal, as an action, an expression, a feeling, an opinion, may be either contemptuous or contemptible; a thing may be contemptible, but can not be contemptuous.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you are contemptuous of someone or something, you do not like or respect them at all. He's openly contemptuous of all the major political parties... She gave a contemptuous little laugh. ADJ: usu v-link ADJ, oft ADJ of n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Insolent, scornful, disdainful, supercilious, haughty.

Moby Thesaurus

abjuratory, abusive, arrogant, audacious, back-biting, belittling, biggety, bitchy, blackening, blameful, bluff, bold, brash, brassy, brazen, bumptious, calumniatory, calumnious, catty, cavalier, censorious, challenging, cheeky, chutzpadik, clannish, cliquish, cocky, condemnatory, contumelious, crusty, damnatory, daring, declinatory, defamatory, defiant, defying, denunciatory, deprecative, deprecatory, depreciative, depreciatory, derisive, derisory, derogative, derogatory, despising, detractory, disdainful, dismissive, disparaging, disregardful, disrespectful, exclusive, execrating, execrative, execratory, facy, flip, flippant, fresh, gally, gratuitous, greatly daring, haughty, impertinent, impudent, insolent, insulting, invective, inveighing, judgmental, libelous, malapert, minimizing, nervy, objurgatory, pejorative, pert, priggish, regardless of consequences, rejective, renunciative, reproachful, reprobative, reviling, ridiculing, rude, sassy, saucy, scandalous, scoffing, scornful, scurrile, scurrilous, slanderous, slighting, smart, smart-alecky, smart-ass, sneering, sniffy, snobbish, snobby, snooty, snotty, supercilious, toploftical, toplofty, uncalled-for, vilifying, vituperative, wise-ass, withering