Scorn

/skɔːn/ · verb

Meaning

(transitive) To feel or display contempt or disdain for something or somebody; to despise..

Definitions by Sense

1. (transitive) To feel or display contempt or disdain for something or somebody; to despise.
2. (transitive) To reject, turn down with disdain.
3. (transitive) To refuse to do something, as beneath oneself.
4. (intransitive) To scoff, to express contempt.
5. (uncountable) Contempt or disdain.
6. (countable) A display of disdain; a slight.
7. (countable) An object of disdain, contempt, or derision.

Example Sentences

The Cry is ſtill, they come: our Caſtles ſtrength / Will laugh a Siedge to ſcorne

We scorn what is in itself contemptible or disgraceful.

He scorned her romantic advances.

Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd, / Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman ſcorn'd.

She scorned to show weakness.

For miſerie doth braueſt mindes abate, / And make them ſeeke for that they wont to ſcorne, / Of fortune and of hope at once forlorne.

Rain of tears, real, mist of imagined scorn

VVith ſcoffes and ſcornes, and contumelious taunts, / In open Market-place produc't they me, / To be a publique ſpectacle to all: / Here, ſayd they, is the Terror of the French, / The Scar-Crovv that affrights our Children ſo.

Synonyms for scorn

Antonyms for scorn

Related Words

Word Forms

• scorns
• scorning
• scorned

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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