scoff

1
[ skawf, skof ]
See synonyms for scoff on Thesaurus.com
verb (used without object)
  1. to speak derisively; mock; jeer (often followed by at): If you can't do any better, don't scoff. Their efforts toward a peaceful settlement are not to be scoffed at.

verb (used with object)
  1. to mock at; deride.

noun
  1. an expression of mockery, derision, doubt, or derisive scorn; jeer.

  2. an object of mockery or derision.

Origin of scoff

1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English scof; origin uncertain, but compare Old Norse skopa “to scorn”

synonym study For scoff

1. Scoff, jeer, sneer imply behaving with scornful disapproval toward someone or about something. To scoff is to express insolent doubt or derision, openly and emphatically: to scoff at a new invention. To jeer suggests expressing disapproval and scorn more loudly, coarsely, and unintelligently than in scoffing: The crowd jeered when the batter struck out. To sneer is to show by facial expression or tone of voice ill-natured contempt or disparagement: He sneered unpleasantly in referring to his opponent's misfortunes.

Other words for scoff

Opposites for scoff

Other words from scoff

  • scoff·er, noun
  • scoff·ing·ly, adverb

Other definitions for scoff (2 of 2)

scoff2
[ skawf, skof ]

verb (used with or without object)
  1. to eat voraciously.

noun
  1. food; grub.

Origin of scoff

2
First recorded in 1855–60; earlier scaff; origin uncertain

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use scoff in a sentence

  • If a man has transgressed one law, and speaks lies and scoffs at another world, there is no evil he will not do.

  • He scoffs at the clerical classes and the religious orders, laughs at the priestly raiment which covered the passions of humanity.

  • How this cheered me, for I had tried to preach to them on the train, and I feared the scoffs or reproof of the railroad officials.

    Prisons and Prayer: Or a Labor of Love | Elizabeth Ryder Wheaton
  • Huysmans, however, scoffs at this distinction and says the use of the term "white magic" was a ruse of the Rose-Croix.

  • Do you think that the jeers and scoffs of the world could make me suffer more than do the pangs of my guilty conscience?

    File No. 113 | Emile Gaboriau

British Dictionary definitions for scoff (1 of 2)

scoff1

/ (skɒf) /


verb
  1. (intr often foll by at) to speak contemptuously (about); express derision (for); mock

  2. (tr) obsolete to regard with derision

noun
  1. an expression of derision

  2. an object of derision

Origin of scoff

1
C14: probably from Scandinavian; compare Old Frisian skof mockery, Danish skof, skuf jest

Derived forms of scoff

  • scoffer, noun
  • scoffing, adjective
  • scoffingly, adverb

British Dictionary definitions for scoff (2 of 2)

scoff2

/ (skɒf) informal, mainly British /


verb
  1. to eat (food) fast and greedily; devour

noun
  1. food or rations

Origin of scoff

2
C19: variant of scaff food; related to Afrikaans, Dutch schoft quarter of the day, one of the four daily meals

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012