scornfully

American  

[skawrn-fuh-lee] / ˈskɔrn fə li /

adverb

1. with derision or contempt.

   As the others came up out of breath behind her, she said to them scornfully, "Neither of you knows how to run."

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Other Word Forms

• unscornfully adverb

Etymology

Origin of scornfully

scornful ( def. ) + -ly

Explanation

If you say something scornfully, you say it in a contemptuous or disgusted way. You might remark scornfully that your brother's breath smells bad. Ewwww. You might be afraid to try out your high school French at a fancy restaurant in France, for fear that the waiter might laugh scornfully at you. When a teacher is impatient and lacks respect for a student's ideas, he may speak scornfully. The adverb scornfully means "in a way that's full of scorn," and the noun scorn comes from the Old French escarn, "mockery, contempt, or derision."

Example Sentences

After State Department officials raised the legal issue in one situation room meeting, Kissinger said scornfully: "We shouldn't decide this on such doctrinaire grounds."

From Salon • Dec. 10, 2023

“It’s the same ingenuity and creativity that has given us an edge all along,” Lylyck explained, and he compared it scornfully with Russian civil society.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 3, 2022

"His main gripe with me is that he'll go down in history as a poisoner," Navalny told the court scornfully.

From BBC • Oct. 7, 2022

“Comparing us to Finland is ridiculous,” she said scornfully.

From New York Times • May 8, 2020

Her sisters, older and not married, belittle her, treating the whole idea of the marriage scornfully, Vincent reports to Theo.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman