spurned
Americanadjective
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of spurned
Explanation
Someone who's spurned has been abandoned or rejected, usually by a romantic interest. If your significant other breaks up with you unexpectedly, you might feel spurned. It's not easy to be a spurned lover, since the adjective implies total rejection by someone you love. A spurned groom, for example, might wait at the church on his wedding day for a bride who never shows up. The Old English root word of spurned makes this rejection pretty clear: spurnan means "to kick away, reject, scorn, or despise."
Vocabulary lists containing spurned
Happy Birthday, James Joyce!
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"Watched" by Marina Budhos, Chapters 10–12
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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.
But landing another face-to-face exchange will take convincing a North Korean leader who has spurned U.S. outreach in recent years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
The announcement comes after North Korea has repeatedly spurned South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's dovish overtures, labelling Seoul its "most hostile" enemy and declaring itself an "irreversible" nuclear state.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
Norwegian Ruud spurned five match points in the third set against Safiullin, by which time he said he had already started to feel cramping in his legs.
From BBC ● May 25, 2026
Despite no organized opposition, a flurry of cities, as well as the editorial board of the Los Angeles Daily News, have loudly spurned the idea, arguing it will make the region even less affordable.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026
But to abandon Orr’s tent would be to abandon Orr, who would have been spurned and humiliated clannishly by these four simple-minded officers waiting to move in.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
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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.
