scorn

[ skawrn ]
See synonyms for: scornscornedscorningscorns on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. open or unqualified contempt; disdain: His face and attitude showed the scorn he felt.

  2. an object of derision or contempt.

  1. a derisive or contemptuous action or speech.

verb (used with object)
  1. to treat or regard with contempt or disdain: They scorned the old beggar.

  2. to reject, refuse, or ignore with contempt or disdain: She scorned my help.

verb (used without object)
  1. to mock; jeer.

Idioms about scorn

  1. laugh to scorn, to ridicule; deride: Many of his sophisticated listeners laughed him to scorn.

Origin of scorn

1
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

synonym study For scorn

1. See contempt.

Other words for scorn

Opposites for scorn

Other words from scorn

  • scorn·er, noun
  • scorn·ing·ly, adverb
  • out·scorn, verb (used with object)
  • self-scorn, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use scorn in a sentence

  • Ftatateeta, despising them and scorning the soldiers, pushes her way through the crowd and confronts the spear points undismayed.

    Caesar and Cleopatra | George Bernard Shaw

British Dictionary definitions for scorn

scorn

/ (skɔːn) /


noun
  1. open contempt or disdain for a person or thing; derision

  2. an object of contempt or derision

  1. archaic an act or expression signifying contempt

verb
  1. to treat with contempt or derision

  2. (tr) to reject with contempt

Origin of scorn

1
C12 schornen, from Old French escharnir, of Germanic origin; compare Old High German scerōn to behave rowdily, obsolete Dutch schern mockery

Derived forms of scorn

  • scorner, noun
  • scornful, adjective
  • scornfully, adverb
  • scornfulness, 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