 |
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Contemptuous \Con*temp"tu*ous\ (?; 135), adjective Manifesting or expressing contempt or disdain; scornful; haughty; insolent; disdainful.
A proud, contemptuous behavior. --Hammond.
Savage invective and contemptuous sarcasm. --Macaulay.
Rome . . . entertained the most contemptuous opinion of the Jews. --Atterbury.
Syn: Scornful; insolent; haughty; disdainful; supercilious; insulting; contumelious.
Usage: {Contemptuous}, {Contemptible}. These words, from their similarity of sound, are sometimes erroneously interchanged, as when a person speaks of having ''a very contemptible opinion of another.'' Contemptible is applied to that which is the object of contempt; as, contemptible conduct; acontemptible fellow. Contemptuous is applied to that which indicates contempt; as, a contemptuous look; a contemptuous remark; contemptuous treatment. A person, or whatever is personal, as an action, an expression, a feeling, an opinion, may be either contemptuous or contemptible; a thing may be contemptible, but can not be contemptuous.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
contemptuous
adjective: expressing extreme contempt [syn: {disdainful}, {insulting}, {scornful}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
113 Moby Thesaurus words for "contemptuous": abjuratory, abusive, arrogant, audacious, back-biting, belittling, biggety, bitchy, blackening, blameful, bluff, bold, brash, brassy, brazen, bumptious, calumniatory, calumnious, catty, cavalier, censorious, challenging, cheeky, chutzpadik, clannish, cliquish, cocky, condemnatory, contumelious, crusty, damnatory, daring, declinatory, defamatory, defiant, defying, denunciatory, deprecative, deprecatory, depreciative, depreciatory, derisive, derisory, derogative, derogatory, despising, detractory, disdainful, dismissive, disparaging, disregardful, disrespectful, exclusive, execrating, execrative, execratory, facy, flip, flippant, fresh, gally, gratuitous, greatly daring, haughty, impertinent, impudent, insolent, insulting, invective, inveighing, judgmental, libelous, malapert, minimizing, nervy, objurgatory, pejorative, pert, priggish, regardless of consequences, rejective, renunciative, reproachful, reprobative, reviling, ridiculing, rude, sassy, saucy, scandalous, scoffing, scornful, scurrile, scurrilous, slanderous, slighting, smart, smart-alecky, smart-ass, sneering, sniffy, snobbish, snobby, snooty, snotty, supercilious, toploftical, toplofty, uncalled-for, vilifying, vituperative, wise-ass, withering
 |
Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |