DictionaryAI

disdain

USdis-DAYN/dɪsˈdeɪn/

Verbdisdains, disdaining, disdained

5 meanings of disdain

Practice

  1. 1
    contemptnoununcountable
    A feeling that someone or something is not good enough to deserve your respect.

    She looked around the dirty kitchen with disdain.

    He talks about his old job with open disdain.

    Similarcontempt, scorn, derision

    Oppositerespect, admiration, esteem

    Note
  2. 2
    look down onverbtransitive
    To think that someone or something is far below you and not worth any respect.

    Many teenagers disdain the music their parents love.

    The rich boy disdained anyone who wore cheap clothes.

    Similarscorn, despise, spurn

    Oppositerespect, admire, esteem

    Note
  3. 3
    be offendedverbobsoleteintransitive
    To feel angry or insulted.
    Note

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    hateful thingnounobsoleteuncountable
    Something that deserves to be hated and looked down on.
    Most loathsom, filthy, foul, and full of vile Disdain.
    1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie QueeneHere, Disdain means something that deserves disgust and scorn.
    Note
  2. 5
    disgracenounobsoleteuncountable
    The shame of being looked down on by other people.

    After the scandal, the proud family fell into disdain.

    The leaves and fruit maintain'd with beauty's sun ; Exempt from envy , but not from disdain
    c. 1591, William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt,”Here, disdain means being looked down on by others, a kind of shame.
    Note

Practice

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Origin

From the Old French word desdeignier, through Middle English.