as in to disdain
to show contempt for
arrogant critics who contemn the general public's taste in art
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of contemn
Consequently, the Sadrists were contemned and discounted by Iraq’s liberal elite who form the core of the ICP.
—
Benedict Robin, Washington Post, 7 June 2018
Benedict Robin, Washington Post, 7 June 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for contemn
Verb
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Lewis Wedlock, a social psychologist specializing in masculinities, notes that the term is especially cutting when a man uses it to refer to another man, which can imply disdain for his authenticity and his submission in pandering to women.—
Ashleigh N. DeLuca,
Parents,
24 Sep. 2025
-
Kleinfeld disdains the concept of work-life separation.—
Diane Brady,
Fortune,
22 Aug. 2025
Verb
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And Maeve really hates injustice and that follows through in all the scenes with the guys.—
Keith Phipps,
Vulture,
6 Oct. 2025
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Another is that there will always be lesbians and people who hate them, so the anger’s going to keep going, and so will the genre.—
Jo Livingstone,
New Yorker,
6 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Your husband overreacted and disrespected you, slapping food and mocking you.—
Virginia Chamlee,
PEOPLE,
22 Sep. 2025
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Even though many media members and fans have disrespected him by calling him a game manager, Hurts has continued to make plays.—
Evan Massey,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Really loved, obsessively loved and despised by every critic.—
Jen Juneau,
PEOPLE,
30 Sep. 2025
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His pushback against an effort to overhaul capital requirements earned him praise from Washington allies of the banking industry, which despised that proposal.—
Eleanor Mueller,
semafor.com,
29 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
By 1845, Marx was scorning his colleagues for floating in the clouds.—
Shai Tubali,
Big Think,
30 Sep. 2025
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The scorelessness has turned to scorn, too.—
Steven Louis Goldstein,
New York Times,
28 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Contemn.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/contemn. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
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