dismissive

adjective

dis·mis·sive | \ dis-ˈmi-siv

Definition of dismissive

: serving to dismiss or reject someone or something : having or showing a disdainful attitude toward someone or something regarded as unworthy of serious attention He responded to the question with a dismissive wave. In the past, Westerberg had been dismissive of Bob's playing, but he says relistening to the early records gave him a new perspective.— Bob Weir

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Other Words from dismissive

dismissively adverb

Writer Tom Fontana's violent, realistic drama debuted five years ago and uninitiated viewers still dismissively call it "that prison show on HBO." — Ian Rothkerch These are not people who speak dismissively of the brain's capabilities. — Brad Leithauser

dismissiveness noun

The work of feminist scholars, both individually and collectively, has been greeted in some quarters with impatience, irritation, dismissiveness, even contempt. — Cullen Murphy

Examples of dismissive in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Others say employers’ dismissive handling of their applications or interviews is leaving them cold. — Sue Shellenbarger, WSJ, "Job-Interview Etiquette Isn’t Just for the Applicants," 8 July 2019 But beach books by men get other, less dismissive monikers; labels like mystery or legal thriller or fantasy or horror that describe without demeaning. — Jennifer Weiner, EW.com, "Jennifer Weiner pens essay on beach reads for EW: 'I've tried to make peace with the label'," 17 June 2019 But voters seem to be drawn to candidates like Warren and Sanders, who offer more pointed presidential takedowns, or even to Joe Biden, who is openly dismissive of Trump as an aberration. — Dara Lind, Vox, "Julián Castro’s 2020 presidential campaign and policies, explained," 26 June 2019 The Roman Catholic Church was skeptical, Soler said, and others were simply dismissive. — New York Times, "For Spain, Investment Pays Off at the World Cup," 23 June 2019 Israelis are increasingly dismissive of two states. — Felicia Schwartz, WSJ, "Trump Middle East Peace Plan Calls for $50 Billion in Investment," 22 June 2019 On the other hand, some physicists, such as Richard Feynman and Stephen Hawking, were notoriously dismissive of the value of the philosophy of science. — Quanta Magazine, "Questioning Truth, Reality and the Role of Science," 24 May 2018 The class action suit, served on the city last week, alleges that when Ben Smith tried to use sick leave in summer 2018, he repeatedly was refused and subjected to evasive, dismissive or intimidating questions. — Frederick Melo, Twin Cities, "How a big paycheck led a high school lifeguard to sue St. Paul over sick leave," 10 June 2019 Sometimes people were condescending or dismissive or rude. — Mattie Kahn, Glamour, "From Nightmare Temp Jobs to Ticket Scalper Horror Stories—The Side Hustles We Don't Recommend," 9 Apr. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dismissive.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.