disdainful
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of disdainful
Explanation
Disdainful means scornful and arrogant. To be disdainful is to act mean and superior. If you're acting haughty, imperious, lordly, overbearing, prideful, sniffy, supercilious, or swaggering, you're acting disdainful. The great Michael Jordan was known to be disdainful of his opponents — and even teammates who couldn't keep up with him. Arrogant people with their nose in the air are disdainful. This can also have an even harsher sense, meaning contemptuous. Either way, that person who gave you the disdainful look doesn’t like you (or at least something you did) very much.
Vocabulary lists containing disdainful
ACT Reading Test: Words to Capture Tone, List 1
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A Midsummer Night's Dream
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Stargirl
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They also told me he could turn on a dime and become reclusive or even disdainful of dinner guests.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026
Ruffin counters before delivering the death blow with a wink and faintly disdainful sneer: “That’s journalism.”
From Salon • Apr. 2, 2025
Even DiCaprio was, at times, openly disdainful of his adolescent admirers; members of his entourage were known to dump water on fans loitering outside his apartment building.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 20, 2023
Early wickets were needed to put India under any sort of pressure, but Rohit's strokeplay was almost disdainful.
From BBC • Oct. 14, 2023
Her expression was disdainful and amused: it was all in the lips and the eyebrows and the set of the nose.
From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
