spurned
Americanadjective
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of spurned
Explanation
Someone who's spurned has been abandoned or rejected, usually by a romantic interest. If your significant other breaks up with you unexpectedly, you might feel spurned. It's not easy to be a spurned lover, since the adjective implies total rejection by someone you love. A spurned groom, for example, might wait at the church on his wedding day for a bride who never shows up. The Old English root word of spurned makes this rejection pretty clear: spurnan means "to kick away, reject, scorn, or despise."
Vocabulary lists containing spurned
Happy Birthday, James Joyce!
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Words to Celebrate West Virginia!
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"Watched" by Marina Budhos, Chapters 10–12
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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.
Spurned Spinoffs: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman discussed spinning out the company’s robotics and consumer-hardware divisions late last year, a move intended to give them more room to grow without weighing down the core business.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 10, 2026
Spurned by its mother, Punch was raised in an artificial environment after being born in July, and began training to rejoin his troop earlier this year.
From Barron's • Mar. 11, 2026
Spurned lovers, angry spouses, and jealous partners also weaponized that law for their own purposes.
From Slate • Sep. 5, 2025
Spurned by Rivian, GM turned its attention to two far shakier startups Shortly after that, GM announced a deal with hydrogen electric trucking startup Nikola, which had a pickup truck project of its own.
From The Verge • Sep. 19, 2021
And, hurry! hurry! off they rode, And fast as fast might be; Spurned from the courser's thundering heels The flashing pebbles flee.
From Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 7 by Warner, Charles Dudley
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.
