1
as in to hate
to dislike strongly
I despise anchovies on pizza, and I refuse to eat them!
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of despise
The two men now despise one another.
—
Kansas City Star, 16 Sep. 2025
Maybe your coworker has an upcoming presentation to senior leadership or your friend despises mushrooms.
—Lorraine K. Lee, CNBC, 8 Sep. 2025
This absence — of God, of love, of plain community spirit — is a metaphor for the whole parish, where everyone is defined by their own lacks and deficiencies, the weaknesses that cause Wicks to despise them and vow to bring down them all.
—Damon Wise, Deadline, 6 Sep. 2025
Williams, a 77-year-old Alaskan Athabascan Indian who has lived in East Oakland since the early 1970s, finds plenty of reasons to despise the artwork, the most visceral being its nudity.
—Shomik Mukherjee, Mercury News, 6 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for despise
Kansas City Star, 16 Sep. 2025
Maybe your coworker has an upcoming presentation to senior leadership or your friend despises mushrooms.
—Lorraine K. Lee, CNBC, 8 Sep. 2025
This absence — of God, of love, of plain community spirit — is a metaphor for the whole parish, where everyone is defined by their own lacks and deficiencies, the weaknesses that cause Wicks to despise them and vow to bring down them all.
—Damon Wise, Deadline, 6 Sep. 2025
Williams, a 77-year-old Alaskan Athabascan Indian who has lived in East Oakland since the early 1970s, finds plenty of reasons to despise the artwork, the most visceral being its nudity.
—Shomik Mukherjee, Mercury News, 6 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for despise
Recent Examples of Synonyms for despise
Verb
-
And Maeve really hates injustice and that follows through in all the scenes with the guys.—
Keith Phipps,
Vulture,
6 Oct. 2025
-
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
-
In their complaint, the unions allege the budget office's memo unlawfully directs agencies to disregard their own authorizing statutes.—
Franco Ordoñez,
NPR,
2 Oct. 2025
-
If a customer has no option to disregard or modify the charge, it cannot be deducted from the employee’s income.—
Bay Area News Group,
Mercury News,
29 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
Taylor has also been an advocate of his own neighborhood, Hallmark, the 10th and often forgotten community within the West End.—
Keely Doll,
Louisville Courier Journal,
3 Oct. 2025
-
The historic Gold Rush settlement of Norristown located around where Sac State’s campus is today, is almost entirely forgotten.—
Graham Womack,
Sacbee.com,
2 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Despise.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/despise. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share