scorn
Americannoun
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scorns
plural
verb (used with object)
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scorns,
present (3rd person singular)
-
scorned,
past participle, past
-
scorning
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
scorns,
present (3rd person singular)
-
scorned,
past participle, past
-
scorning
present participle
idioms
noun
-
open contempt or disdain for a person or thing; derision
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an object of contempt or derision
-
archaic an act or expression signifying contempt
verb
-
to treat with contempt or derision
-
(tr) to reject with contempt
Synonym Usage
See contempt.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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scornernoun
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scornfulnessnoun
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self-scornnoun
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outscornverb (used with object)
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scornfuladjective
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scornfullyadverb
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scorninglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
scornsimple
-
scornssimple
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have scornedperfect
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has scornedperfect
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am scorningprogressive
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are scorningprogressive
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is scorningprogressive
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have been scorningperfect progressive
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has been scorningperfect progressive
Past
-
scornedsimple
-
had scornedperfect
-
was scorningprogressive
-
were scorningprogressive
-
had been scorningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of scorn
First recorded in 1150–1200; (noun) Middle English scorn, scarn, from Old French escarn, from Germanic (compare obsolete Dutch schern “mockery, trickery”); (verb) Middle English skarnen, sc(h)ornen, from Old French escharnir, eschernir, ultimately from Germanic
Explanation
Scorn is open disrespect for someone or something. It can also be disrespect coupled with feelings of intense dislike. The noun scorn describes your feelings of disdain when you encounter something you view as worthless or inferior — like, for instance, a talk show that gets all its facts wrong. Use the verb form for those times when you’re actively expressing scorn. You might scorn a politician who spends $100,000 on travel while claiming to work hard promoting middle-class values.
Vocabulary lists containing scorn
"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act I
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Declaration of the Rights of Woman (1791)
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List 7
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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:
Much of his scorn, for example, is directed at the millennial Lean In crowd that wanted women to be more like successful men—ambitious and loud.
From Slate ● Jun. 18, 2026
Lea inadvertently became the face of the capital’s influencer takeover, a new-media shift that has been met with considerable scorn.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 2026
Rosenior drew widespread scorn when he said Chelsea's players performed a pre-match huddle before the game against Newcastle United, farcically surrounding referee Paul Tierney in the process, to "respect the ball".
From BBC ● Apr. 14, 2026
“These false statements were republished and circulated widely across social media platforms,” the lawsuit says, “exposing Plaintiff to public scorn, suspicion, and ridicule.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2026
"They said I was soon to face my true love's scorn."
From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman
More than once Mr. Vance scorns elite “strivers” and purports to feel shame that he once tried hard to gain admittance to their circles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
Martinique official Serge Letchimy hailed a vote that he said had come "to shatter a system that tramples on the truth, absolves the guilty, and scorns the victims".
From Barron's ● Jun. 2, 2026
Last month, Vance, a self-described foreign policy “realist” who scorns the practice of describing countries as “good guys” and “bad guys,” caused quite a stir at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2025
And she consistently scorns consideration of congressional intent.
From Slate ● Jul. 31, 2023
I tells them how it happened in a dream, but they scorns me.
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
Their reunion is surreal because it’s predicated on their mutual ability to admit fault, something that few of us have the opportunity to do after we walk away from a loved one scorned.
From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2026
In England through much of the 20th century, conversion was tolerated—especially if you were creative—but sometimes scorned.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
Hell hath no fury like a Lily Allen scorned.
From BBC ● Dec. 20, 2025
However, he has scorned the description of Opendoor as a meme stock, describing it instead as a “cult stock.”
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2025
I thought back on the sit-ins, the protestors with their stoic faces, the ones I’d once scorned for hurling their bodies at the worst things in life.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
On the contrary, he mistrusts them, scorning even the praise heaped upon him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 14, 2026
We had both gone to law school to pursue public interest law, scorning classmates whose sole ambition was to land a job at a big firm and make six figures upon graduation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 28, 2023
By scorning this routine digital probing, they attenuate their safety and intensify their exhilaration in roughly equal measure.
From New York Times ● Jul. 12, 2022
He spent a lifetime scorning bigotry as not only immoral but irrational and un-American.
From Slate ● Feb. 16, 2022
Once more, I saw Miss Lilian sweeping down those stairs, head high, scorning Mother as she passed her, glaring at Georgie and me.
From "The Old Willis Place" by Mary Downing Hahn
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.
