Meaning

(ambitransitive) To reject disdainfully; contemn; scorn..

Definitions by Sense

1. (ambitransitive) To reject disdainfully; contemn; scorn.
2. (transitive) To reject something by pushing it away with the foot.
3. (transitive) To waste; fail to make the most of (an opportunity)
4. (intransitive, obsolete) To kick or toss up the heels.
5. An act of spurning; a scornful rejection.
6. (archaic) A kick; a blow with the foot.
7. (obsolete) Disdainful rejection; contemptuous treatment.
8. (mining) A body of coal left to sustain an overhanging mass.

Example Sentences

to spurn at your most royal image

What safe and nicely I might well delay By rule of knighthood, I disdain and spurn.

Domestics will pay a more ready and cheerful service, when they find themselves not spurned, because fortune has laid them below the level of others, at their master's feet.

She will spurn a Tyrone Power/A Van Johnson or a Gable/For a Cenek Kottnauer/Or a man like Dr. Treybal

Although the term “rewilding” – meaning an approach to conservation that allows nature a free rein – has been in currency since 1990, many traditional landowners and gamekeepers continue to spurn both the term and the idea behind it.

Me thinks I ſee kings kneeling at his feet, And he with frowning browes and fiery lookes, Spurning their crownes from off their captiue heads.

I spurn thee like a cur out of my way.

Marouane Chamakh then spurned a great chance to kill the game off when he ran onto Andrey Arshavin's lofted through ball but shanked his shot horribly across the face of goal.

Word Forms

• spurns
• spurning
• spurned

Synonyms for spurn

Related Words

When Should You Use Spurn?

Use spurn when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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