dismissive

adjective

dis·​mis·​sive dis-ˈmi-siv 

: 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

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

Still, Son is dismissive of the low-cost models offered by China’s AI pioneers, such as DeepSeek, when compared to the frontier research conducted by OpenAI. —Charlie Campbell, Time, 24 Feb. 2026

During an interview with lawyers, Fusaro reportedly said the comment was not intended to be dehumanizing, sarcastic, dismissive or insensitive in any manner. —Stephen Underwood, Hartford Courant, 22 Feb. 2026

Sarandos, for his part, has said his comments that were dismissive of the movie-theater experience came before Netflix was in a position to own a major supplier in the theatrical business. —Todd Spangler, Variety, 19 Feb. 2026

Some leaders, producers and directors were not amused by Goldberg, saying her remarks were insulting and dismissive of a serious fight to gain diversity within the motion picture industry. —Los Angeles Times, 18 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1645, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for dismissive

• derisive
• emissive
• permissive
• submissive
• transmissive
• missive