contemptuously
Americanadverb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of contemptuously
Explanation
If you think something or someone is worthless, and show it, you behave contemptuously: you're being disrespectful and mean. The word is all about showing your dislike and disrespect. We may dislike a great many things, but we are not treating them contemptuously until everyone else around us knows exactly how we feel. Acting contemptuously is putting on a little show, almost like a toddler's temper tantrum, though with more thought behind it. A student who treats his teacher contemptuously is going to be in trouble, and an employee who treats his boss contemptuously might get fired. Contemptuously is the opposite of respectfully.
Vocabulary lists containing contemptuously
The Outsiders
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A Doll's House
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The BFG
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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.
The minister replied contemptuously that ballet dancers were like saffron — the most expensive spice — on hospital food, an extravagance.
From New York Times • Mar. 25, 2024
But you need not worry: I understand you and I am not contemptuously pandering to you: I genuinely think that you drive to Walmart for the delight of it!
From Washington Post • Apr. 6, 2023
Over the next hour, a device captured the Democratic politicians and the labor leader, all Latino, speaking contemptuously about those they regarded as rivals or impediments.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 13, 2022
I wouldn’t have to contemptuously speculate if that number were in the document, you know.
From The Verge • Jul. 13, 2021
They all declared contemptuously that his stories about Sugarcandy Mountain were lies, and yet they allowed him to remain on the farm, not working, with an allowance ot a gill of beer a day.
From "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story" by George Orwell
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.
