overbearing suggests a tyrannical manner or an intolerable insolence.
an overbearing supervisor
supercilious implies a cool, patronizing haughtiness.
an aloof and supercilious manner
disdainful suggests a more active and openly scornful superciliousness.
disdainful of their social inferiors
Examples of disdainful in a Sentence
He looked at the waiter with a disdainful glare.
a disdainful attitude toward authority
Recent Examples on the WebThe stereotypes about us were, and continue to be, disdainful and dismissive, mixed with a potent disgust for good measure.—Bobi Conn, TIME, 23 May 2024 Defiant and at times disdainful of the Biden administration’s stance, their comments made clear the widening rift between Israel and the United States over the war and the prospect of a full-scale invasion of Rafah, where about a million Palestinians are sheltering.—Michael Levenson, New York Times, 9 May 2024 The hard pass is especially effective when paired with a refusal to look up from your phone or a disdainful loogie hock.—Evan Waite, The New Yorker, 10 Apr. 2024 The girl's disdainful parents, unimpressed with her intelligence and independent spirit, decide to send her to Crunchem Hall, where the ruthless headmistress (Emma Thompson) specializes in bringing troublemaking tykes into line.—Danny Horn, EW.com, 31 Jan. 2024 This might not matter to the protesters, who are largely disdainful of the political system and want little to do with it — but such a position comes with measurable political costs.—Ross Barkan, New York Times, 7 Feb. 2024 Even DiCaprio was, at times, openly disdainful of his adolescent admirers; members of his entourage were known to dump water on fans loitering outside his apartment building.—Meredith Blake, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2023 Like their Orange County brethren Social Distortion from down the freeway in Fullerton, Bad Religion was made up of high school students disdainful of high school.—David L. Coddon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Sep. 2023 The two cops are linked here, too, since Liz continues to be utterly disdainful of Leah’s attempts to connect with her heritage, while Navarro’s mother never told Evangeline what her Inupiaq name is.—Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 28 Jan. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'disdainful.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Share