scornfully
Americanadverb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of scornfully
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
“Well, that’s you,” Alex said, a bit scornfully.
From New York Times ● Aug. 28, 2019
“He don’t like working,” said her aunt, scornfully.
From "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
