contemn
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of contemn
1375–1425; late Middle English contempnen (< Middle French ) < Latin contemnere to despise, scorn, equivalent to con- con- + temnere to slight; see contempt
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.
"Did not William Blake contemn reason and paint the ghost of a flea?"
From Time Magazine Archive
Speaking contemptuously of him, I but contemn nothing.
From Satires And Profanities by Foote, G. W. (George William)
Still, Americans should feel a pang in acknowledging that even in the dark article of slave laws they are surpassed by a nation which they contemn.
From A Trip to Cuba by Howe, Julia Ward
It seemed to her that men who play golf-croquet and watch cricket matches have no business to contemn men who risk their lives in the air.
From Marriage by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Vile as these motives seem, they are too near akin to the general springs of human action for us to contemn them.
From A Trip to Cuba by Howe, Julia Ward
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.
