disdainful
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of disdainful
Explanation
Disdainful means scornful and arrogant. To be disdainful is to act mean and superior. If you're acting haughty, imperious, lordly, overbearing, prideful, sniffy, supercilious, or swaggering, you're acting disdainful. The great Michael Jordan was known to be disdainful of his opponents — and even teammates who couldn't keep up with him. Arrogant people with their nose in the air are disdainful. This can also have an even harsher sense, meaning contemptuous. Either way, that person who gave you the disdainful look doesn’t like you (or at least something you did) very much.
Vocabulary lists containing disdainful
ACT Reading Test: Words to Capture Tone, List 1
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A Midsummer Night's Dream
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Stargirl
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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.
They also told me he could turn on a dime and become reclusive or even disdainful of dinner guests.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026
A slap over extra cover for six was part of some disdainful treatment of Boland, who conceded 62 from his 10 overs.
From BBC • Nov. 21, 2025
Ruffin counters before delivering the death blow with a wink and faintly disdainful sneer: “That’s journalism.”
From Salon • Apr. 2, 2025
The movie is clearer and more persuasive about this chapter of Hudson’s story, adopting a more plaintive tone as it explores an atmosphere of disdainful hysteria that prevailed at that time.
From New York Times • Jun. 28, 2023
He would not let the fellow stand there looking down at him, graceful, disdainful, hateful.
From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin
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.
