contemn
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con·temn
(kən-tĕm′)tr.v.con·temned,con·temn·ing,con·temns
To view with contempt; despise. See Synonyms at despise.
[Middle Englishcontempnen,to slight, from Latincontemnere :com-,intensive pref.; see com- +temnere,to despise.]
con·temn′er(-tĕm′ər, -tĕm′nər) n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
contemn
(kənˈtɛm)vb
(tr)formal to treat or regard with contempt; scorn
[C15: from Latincontemnere, fromtemnere to slight]
contemner,contemnorn
contemnibleadj
conˈtemniblyadv
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
con•temn
(kənˈtɛm)v.t.
to treat or regard with contempt.
[1375–1425; late Middle Englishcontempnen (< Middle French) < Latincontemnere to despise, scorn =con-con- +temnere to slight; comparecontempt]
con•temn′er (-ˈtɛm ər, -ˈtɛm nər)con•tem′nor (-nər)n.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
contemn
Past participle:contemned
Gerund:contemning
Imperative |
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contemn |
contemn |
Present |
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I contemn |
you contemn |
he/she/it contemns |
we contemn |
you contemn |
they contemn |
Preterite |
---|
I contemned |
you contemned |
he/she/it contemned |
we contemned |
you contemned |
they contemned |
Present Continuous |
---|
I am contemning |
you are contemning |
he/she/it is contemning |
we are contemning |
you are contemning |
they are contemning |
Present Perfect |
---|
I have contemned |
you have contemned |
he/she/it has contemned |
we have contemned |
you have contemned |
they have contemned |
Past Continuous |
---|
I was contemning |
you were contemning |
he/she/it was contemning |
we were contemning |
you were contemning |
they were contemning |
Past Perfect |
---|
I had contemned |
you had contemned |
he/she/it had contemned |
we had contemned |
you had contemned |
they had contemned |
Future |
---|
I will contemn |
you will contemn |
he/she/it will contemn |
we will contemn |
you will contemn |
they will contemn |
Future Perfect |
---|
I will have contemned |
you will have contemned |
he/she/it will have contemned |
we will have contemned |
you will have contemned |
they will have contemned |
Future Continuous |
---|
I will be contemning |
you will be contemning |
he/she/it will be contemning |
we will be contemning |
you will be contemning |
they will be contemning |
Present Perfect Continuous |
---|
I have been contemning |
you have been contemning |
he/she/it has been contemning |
we have been contemning |
you have been contemning |
they have been contemning |
Future Perfect Continuous |
---|
I will have been contemning |
you will have been contemning |
he/she/it will have been contemning |
we will have been contemning |
you will have been contemning |
they will have been contemning |
Past Perfect Continuous |
---|
I had been contemning |
you had been contemning |
he/she/it had been contemning |
we had been contemning |
you had been contemning |
they had been contemning |
Conditional |
---|
I would contemn |
you would contemn |
he/she/it would contemn |
we would contemn |
you would contemn |
they would contemn |
Past Conditional |
---|
I would have contemned |
you would have contemned |
he/she/it would have contemned |
we would have contemned |
you would have contemned |
they would have contemned |
Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Switch to new thesaurus
Verb | 1. | contemn - 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" detest,hate - dislike intensely; feel antipathy or aversion towards; "I hate Mexican food"; "She detests politicians" look down on - regard with contempt; "the new neighbor looks down on us because our house is very modest" |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
contemn
verbTo regard with utter contempt and disdain:
Idioms:have no use for,look down on.
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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Thy pompous delicacies Icontemn, And count thy specious gifts no gifts, but guiles." To whom thus answered Satan, male-content:-- "That I have also power to give thou seest; If of that power I bring thee voluntary What I might have bestowed on whom I pleased, And rather opportunely in this place Chose to impart to thy apparent need, Why shouldst thou not accept it?
For indeed, every sect of them, hath a diverse posture, or cringe by themselves, which cannot but move derision in worldlings, and depraved politics, who are apt tocontemn holy things.
It is so pleasing to one's 'vanity, and so safe, to be of the master's side when he assails those vices and foibles which are inherent in the system of things, and which one cancontemn with vast applause so long as one does not attempt to undo the conditions they spring from.
The women of the island have abundance of vivacity: they,contemn their husbands, and are exceedingly fond of strangers, whereof there is always a considerable number from the continent below, attending at court, either upon affairs of the several towns and corporations, or their own particular occasions, but are much despised, because they want the same endowments.
He thought to himself that there could be no greater torture in the world than at the same time to love and tocontemn.
In short, we are madly erring, through self-esteem, in believing man, in either his temporal or future destinies, to be of more moment in the universe than that vast "clod of the valley" which he tills andcontemns, and to which he denies a soul for no more profound reason than that he does not behold it in operation.
I could not decide whether she desired the return of her husband because she loved him, or because she dreaded the tongue of scandal; and I was perturbed by the suspicion that the anguish of lovecontemned was alloyed in her broken heart with the pangs, sordid to my young mind, of wounded vanity.
She was embarrassed to discover that excitement at the proximity of Mr Clare's breath and eyes, which she hadcontemned in her companions, was intensified in herself; and as if fearful of betraying her secret she paltered with him at the last moment.
France enfeebled, the authority of her sovereigncontemned, her nobles returning to their former turbulence and insolence, her enemies within her frontiers -- all proved the great Richelieu no longer in existence.
But all the Ambassadors of the next countries, which had been there before, and knew the fashions and manners of the Utopians, among whom they perceived no honour given to sumptuous and costly apparel, silks to becontemned, gold also to be infamed and reproachful, were wont to come thither in very homely and simple apparel.
For the opposite reason, Prince John hated andcontemned the few Saxon families of consequence which subsisted in England, and omitted no opportunity of mortifying and affronting them; being conscious that his person and pretensions were disliked by them, as well as by the greater part of the English commons, who feared farther innovation upon their rights and liberties, from a sovereign of John's licentious and tyrannical disposition.
His place is occupied by the desire of the master 'to totalitarize' his own I and do it as much as possible in order tocontemn his (master's) life, to transform it into a fetish, into an ordinary incident in the process of the self-development and self-termination of spirit.
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