contumely
[kon-too-muh-lee, -tyoo-; kuh n-too-muh-lee, -tyoo-; kon-tuh m-lee, -tyoom, -chuh m]
- insulting display of contempt in words or actions; contemptuous or humiliating treatment.
- a humiliating insult.
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Origin of contumely
1350–1400; Middle English contumelie (< Anglo-French) < Latin contumēlia, perhaps akin to contumāx (see contumacy), though formation and sense development are unclear
Synonyms
See more synonyms for contumely on Thesaurus.com1. abuse, scorn, disdain, rudeness.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for contumelious
Historical Examples
If I had been bred in the east, I should be tempted to say it was a contumelious responsibility.
A PessimistRobert Timsol
I weep and cry out, I have been a most contumelious offender.
The Works of John MarstonJohn Marston
She turned the combs and brushes over with a contumelious hand.
Joan of the Sword HandS(amuel) R(utherford) Crockett
Who now hath plumbed the depths of a contumelious paronomasia?
Wilderness of SpringEdgar Pangborn
Although I curled a contumelious lip, I smarted under the indignity.
Simon the JesterWilliam J. Locke
contumely
- scornful or insulting language or behaviour
- a humiliating or scornful insult
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Word Origin
C14: from Latin contumēlia invective, from tumēre to swell, as with wrath
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for contumelious
adj.
late 15c., from Old French contumelieus, from Latin contumeliosus "reproachful, insolently abusive," from contumelia (see contumely).
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contumely
n.
late 14c., from Old French contumelie, from Latin contumelia "a reproach, insult," probably related to contumax "haughty, stubborn," from com-, intensive prefix (see com-), + tumere "to swell up" (see thigh).
The unhappy man left his country forever. The howl of contumely followed him across the sea, up the Rhine, over the Alps; it gradually waxed fainter; it died away; those who had raised it began to ask each other, what, after all, was the matter about which they had been so clamorous, and wished to invite back the criminal whom they had just chased from them. [Thomas Babington Macaulay, "Lord Byron," 1877]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper