How to Use contemptuous in a Sentence

contemptuous

adjective
  • A contemptuous term for a black or dark-skinned person.
    Charles P. Pierce, Esquire, 18 Nov. 2016
  • Garza is almost contemptuous of the many people who seek her advice on how to grow their brand and go viral.
    Washington Post, 11 Dec. 2020
  • Not posh, and neither impressed by nor contemptuous of those who were.
    Ian McEwan, The New Yorker, 1 Aug. 2022
  • Grandiosity is the sense of being above other people, and contemptuous of the rules.
    Jancee Dunn, Vogue, 17 June 2022
  • Robertson, for his part, was contemptuous of what Schlesinger had shot.
    Louis Menand, The New Yorker, 5 Apr. 2021
  • But people who are more contemptuous of that system are much more interesting to me.
    Choire Sicha, Vulture, 13 July 2023
  • That contemptuous attitude has served Petty well over the decades.
    Dan Deluca, Philly.com, 3 Oct. 2017
  • That contemptuous remark may have cost Romney fils the election.
    Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 7 Apr. 2023
  • All the more so with a president so contemptuous of institutions.
    The Economist, 30 June 2018
  • The Yonyx are equally contemptuous of the older robotic models.
    Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 1 Mar. 2022
  • The recordings reveal a man who is fixated on his own celebrity, anxious about losing his status and contemptuous of those who fall from grace.
    Michael Barbaro, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2016
  • A decade ago, Steve Jobs was contemptuous of selling to businesses.
    Alan Murray, Fortune, 28 June 2017
  • Taliban forces have taken cities across the country with contemptuous ease, and the fall of the capital city Kabul is expected in weeks if not days.
    Ryan Cooper, The Week, 14 Aug. 2021
  • That’s a lot of money to give to institutions that have shown themselves contemptuous of conservative values and the cause of free inquiry.
    Frederick M. Hess, National Review, 17 Sep. 2020
  • The Baroness is more openly contemptuous than Priestly was and much of her behavior is criminal.
    Chris Hewitt, Star Tribune, 27 May 2021
  • Keillor is dismissive if not outright contemptuous of the reporting about him.
    Washington Post, 20 Oct. 2021
  • That contemptuous attitude is hardly surprising when so many voters cast their ballot with one hand while holding their nose with the other.
    Los Angeles Times, 8 Nov. 2022
  • For much of the hour-long contemptuous meeting, Ryan and Vance were constantly invoking the boogeymen around their foe.
    Philip Elliott, Time, 18 Oct. 2022
  • The name of this spiffy young devil, whose contemptuous charm is dripping from the stage of the Linda Gross Theater, is Mooney.
    Ben Brantley, New York Times, 5 Feb. 2018
  • He owned a fine Kentucky rifle, with a cherry wood stock, and was contemptuous of the bulky carbines most of the troop had adopted.
    Larry McMurtry, Dead Man's Walk, 1995
  • What happened to the idea that art and culture should be a contemptuous refuge from the mainstream, as opposed to this lickspittle, running dog accommodation to the mainstream?
    Billboard Staff, Billboard, 3 June 2022
  • Researchers expected the volunteers to perceive most smiles as happy ones, but smaller, less curved smiles were seen as contemptuous.
    Kai Sinclair, Science | AAAS, 28 June 2017
  • One example is the Twitter account of a contemptuous troll dedicated to pointing out typos and grammar mistakes in the paper of record.
    Asaf Shalev, sun-sentinel.com, 8 June 2021
  • The answer, thankfully, is the former, as her contemptuous Mary Louise anchors much of the new episodes’ drama.
    Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 6 June 2019
  • Cheers to the reunion of one of TV's most hilariously contemptuous couples!
    Brandon Livesay, Peoplemag, 1 Mar. 2023
  • Whether Akhavi was contemptuous of the proceedings or truly believed in her own innocence is unknown.
    azcentral, 30 Mar. 2018
  • As with many controversies, both sides lament how the debate has hardened and devolved so quickly into contemptuous name-calling while digging in their heels.
    Ethan Bronner, Bloomberg.com, 29 Sep. 2020
  • Having been contemptuous of grade-grubbing, his high-school transcript by his own admission was far from distinguished.
    Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, 6 May 2021
  • But the singer has always seemed contemptuous of such politics, and causing a scandal by offending gatekeepers may have been his exact intention.
    Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 14 June 2017
  • He felt familiar enough to indulge in outbursts of rage or contemptuous sarcasm in her presence, and to display the most withering side of his character, lashing out at the people he despised.
    Cynthia Ozick, New Yorker, 20 Nov. 1989

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'contemptuous.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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