despise
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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despisablenessnoun
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despisernoun
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despisableadjective
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undespisedadjective
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undespisingadjective
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despisinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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despisesimple
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despisessimple
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have despisedperfect
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has despisedperfect
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am despisingprogressive
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are despisingprogressive
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is despisingprogressive
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have been despisingperfect progressive
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has been despisingperfect progressive
Past
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despisedsimple
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had despisedperfect
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was despisingprogressive
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were despisingprogressive
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had been despisingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of despise
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English despisen, from Old French despis-, stem of despire, from Latin dēspicere; see despicable
Explanation
If the mere thought of a burrito with sour cream in it turns your stomach, you could say that you despise sour cream. You loathe it, abhor it, hate it, and think it's vile. Despise dates all the way back to the Latin word despicare, which combines de "down" with specere "to look at." So if you look down your nose at something, you could say you despise it. Nowadays the word gets used a lot to describe things people really, really dislike, too. Note how similar in meaning and spelling despise is to Sylvester the cartoon cat's old favorite catchphrase despicable. Despicable means something worth of being despised.
Vocabulary lists containing despise
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 16–19
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Bridge to Terabithia
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Bronx Masquerade
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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.
See Examples For:
Co-signers include the Open Markets Institute, an anti-monopoly advocacy and research group in Washington that tends to despise Big Tech, and the Writer’s Guild.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
I grew up in a region trained to despise New York sports teams.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
He didn’t have much reason to despise Cornyn, beyond a stray comment here or there.
From Slate ● May 30, 2026
But it has also triggered an unexpected wave of nostalgia, with some Delhi residents expressing affection for a place they often claimed to despise.
From BBC ● May 25, 2026
I don’t know which is more horrifying—the thought of being here for another week, or the thought that maybe the medication that I so despise might actually be working.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
He’s retiring from his House seat this cycle because he has a young family and genuinely despises political life in Washington.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
With those words, Imai immediately became something of a folk hero to any baseball fan who despises the Dodgers—a group that currently includes just about everyone outside of L.A.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 16, 2025
They also report that he's boxed his lawyers into an "absolutist" defense, to appease a client "who despises weakness and is allergic to anything but praise from the people around him."
From Salon ● May 13, 2024
With 70 miles between us, Kirk wanted to have daily phone calls to keep in touch, but as someone who despises talking on the phone, this was a true test of our relationship.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 19, 2024
She and Wil are visiting Anna, whom he sarcastically refers to as his “charming sister,” the one who despises him.
From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman
Burnham has long been unusual as a politician - a leader who has managed to be popular in a time when politicians often disappoint and are sometimes despised.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
It’s about understanding that that the removal of a single despised figurehead isn’t enough.
From Salon ● May 8, 2026
Mr. Mellencamp sang a similar tune in a 1991 interview when he admitted becoming everything he earlier despised.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 6, 2026
Bogle almost certainly would’ve despised cryptocurrency ETFs as speculative instruments that produce no cash flow.
From Barron's ● Mar. 25, 2026
Zethus was a man of great physical strength who despised his brother’s neglect of manly sports and his devotion to his art.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
He is described as a man who had “poked his chin up sideways, carrying his nose with that aforesaid appearance of ‘sniff,’ as though despising an egg which he knew he could not digest.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
Society is depicted as "worshiping only power and money, despising art, sensitivity, tenderness, where people ...don't talk anymore."
From Barron's ● Apr. 3, 2026
“Everything Cohen says about adulating, and then despising Trump, is bolstered and corroborated by massive other evidence.”
From Salon ● May 16, 2024
"It's astonishing how people can put so much vitriol and energy into despising someone. It's extraordinarily damaging," she says of the most bitter sibling rivalry.
From BBC ● Feb. 10, 2024
When his father told him about Ruth, he joined him in despising her, but he felt put upon; felt as though some burden had been given to him and that he didn’t deserve it.
From "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison
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.
