insult
to treat or speak to insolently or with contemptuous rudeness; affront.
to affect as an affront; offend or demean.
Archaic. to attack; assault.
Archaic. to behave with insolent triumph; exult contemptuously (usually followed by on, upon, or over).
an insolent or contemptuously rude action or remark; affront.
something having the effect of an affront: That book is an insult to one's intelligence.
Medicine/Medical.
an injury or trauma.
an agent that inflicts this.
Archaic. an attack or assault.
Origin of insult
1synonym study For insult
Other words for insult
Opposites for insult
Other words from insult
- in·sult·a·ble, adjective
- in·sult·er, noun
- pre·in·sult, verb (used with object)
- qua·si-in·sult·ed, adjective
- un·in·sult·a·ble, adjective
- un·in·sult·ed, adjective
Words Nearby insult
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use insult in a sentence
That the “short list” was most of the world, or that the term ultimately devolved into an insult, seems unsurprising in retrospect.
It was an insult to the public as well, and a sad example of the state of American democracy five weeks before the election.
Election live updates: Debate commission says it will change structure to ensure more ‘orderly discussion’ | John Wagner, Felicia Sonmez, Amy B Wang | September 30, 2020 | Washington PostIt wasn’t the insults or shouting that put the markets into a risk-off mood.
Global investors dump stocks as presidential debate fireworks escalate election jitters | Bernhard Warner | September 30, 2020 | Fortune“Streamlining,” wrote Technical Editor Kevin Cameron in a February, 2002, piece about the star of the 2001 Tokyo Show, “would just be an insult to the air-crushing power of the supercharged engine.”
22 of the weirdest concept motorcycles ever made | By John Burns/Cycle World | September 10, 2020 | Popular-ScienceAdding insult to injury, my coworkers and I were offered only a pittance of severance to tide us over through this incredible time of uncertainty.
Why the Democratic Party must make a clean break with Wall Street | matthewheimer | September 8, 2020 | Fortune
It was like a constant assault, an almost stupefying catalogue of mindless racial insult and injury.
How Martin Luther King Jr. Influenced Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ | Peter Guralnick | December 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTinsult to injury, its $43 million gross was less than one-fifth of what Ted took in.
The Biggest Bombs of 2014: ‘Sex Tape,’ Mariah Carey’s Vocals, ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and More | Kevin Fallon | December 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe cardinals had such a bad reputation that the very term “cardinal” became an insult in Renaissance Rome.
To add insult to injury, he procured male escorts while traveling for school business.
Watching novelists insult one another is one of the primary pleasures of his biography.
Yet how came it that even a low-caste mongrel of a Lascar should offer such an overt insult to a Brahmin!
The Red Year | Louis TracyHe passed to and fro in the city without the least insult being offered him by any Spaniard.
The Philippine Islands | John Foremaninsult and outrage seemed to have given that bodily vigour to Ripperda, which medicine and surgery had taken no pains to restore.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4 | Jane PorterHe was determined to have it, if only because no greater insult can be inflicted on a Mohammedan than to bare his head.
The Red Year | Louis TracyThis provided for, I will protect myself from future insult, depend upon it.
British Dictionary definitions for insult
to treat, mention, or speak to rudely; offend; affront
obsolete to assault; attack
an offensive or contemptuous remark or action; affront; slight
a person or thing producing the effect of an affront: some television is an insult to intelligence
med an injury or trauma
add insult to injury to make an unfair or unacceptable situation even worse
Origin of insult
1Derived forms of insult
- insulter, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with insult
see add insult to injury.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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