1
as in contemptuous
feeling or showing open dislike for someone or something regarded as undeserving of respect or concern
a disdainful attitude toward people who work as waiters and waitresses
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in proud
having or displaying feelings of scorn for what is regarded as beneath oneself
disdainful of manual labor of any kind
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in slighting
intended to make a person or thing seem of little importance or value
disdainful remarks regarding the cheap clothes that the local people were wearing
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of disdainful
The man, no, the boy that 3,000 people had crammed inside London’s Alexandra Palace to see produce history, plus millions more watching at home and in pubs around the UK and the world, was doing it not just with dispassionate ease, or with flamboyant style, but with disdainful relish.
—
Tim Spiers, The Athletic, 4 Jan. 2025
Most Democrats and independents — 82% and 54%, respectively — said Trump was disdainful to Zelenskyy, while just 19% of Republicans thought the same.
—Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 12 Mar. 2025
Danielle Haim sings, more disdainful than saddened by the dissolution at the heart of the single.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 12 Mar. 2025
From above, the figurines almost appear to be grinning, but the face looks disdainful when viewed head-on.
—Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 6 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for disdainful
Tim Spiers, The Athletic, 4 Jan. 2025
Most Democrats and independents — 82% and 54%, respectively — said Trump was disdainful to Zelenskyy, while just 19% of Republicans thought the same.
—Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 12 Mar. 2025
Danielle Haim sings, more disdainful than saddened by the dissolution at the heart of the single.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 12 Mar. 2025
From above, the figurines almost appear to be grinning, but the face looks disdainful when viewed head-on.
—Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 6 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for disdainful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for disdainful
Adjective
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By contrast, there’s something almost nakedly contemptuous about the end of this season.—
Kathryn VanArendonk,
Vulture,
30 May 2025
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That’s fine by an administration that seems basically contemptuous of the very concept of due process.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
31 May 2025
Adjective
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Local entrepreneur and proud Macedonian Gordana Traycoff will lead the discussion with an evening of storytelling and cultural discovery.—
Post-Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
14 July 2025
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Old Fitzgerald, the once proud brand with a century-long legacy, was tossed into the Bernheim sale like an extra trading card between kids to sweeten the deal, not to headline it.—
Chris Perugini,
Forbes.com,
14 July 2025
Adjective
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The cast gets a huge boost at midseason with the arrival of John Leguizamo, equally broadly funny and vulnerable as Dave’s disgraced former partner, and Anna Chlumsky, hilariously scornful as a law enforcement outsider who gets brought into the story’s chaos.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
26 June 2025
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The advisee may present herself as a supplicant but end up an aggressor, demanding and scornful.—
Merve Emre,
New Yorker,
16 June 2025
Adjective
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As the day goes on, Jim goes from a caricature of an arrogant male director to an oddly compelling picture of a pathetic man, moved by spite toward his ex-wife, Anita.—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
10 July 2025
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Actor Tyler Hilton played Chris Keller, a charming but arrogant musician, on four seasons of the teen soap.—
Bryan West,
The Tennessean,
2 July 2025
Adjective
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Stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni is insulting because a macaroni was a pejorative term used to describe a fashionable man with feminine traits of 18th-century Britain.—
Kurt Snibbe,
Oc Register,
2 July 2025
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Conversations revealed an ongoing dialogue that was not only deeply insulting to Read, but morally offensive to women broadly.—
Gemma Allen,
Forbes.com,
25 June 2025
Adjective
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The notion of any return to normality feels abhorrent just now — a crass, unwelcome intrusion into private grief.—
Andy Jones,
New York Times,
6 July 2025
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While the abhorrent actions that led Cuomo’s fall should alone be disqualifying, there’s also the matter of policy.—
Romen Borsellino,
New York Daily News,
24 June 2025
Adjective
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Santa Monica was a town in flux when Miller was in high school at the turn of the millennium: a Berkeley meets Beverly Hills where haughty affluence was rapidly eclipsing the Birkenstocks and counterculture bumper stickers.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
9 July 2025
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This information doesn’t make the prospect of leaving her home painless, but Ruth approaches it with a haughty dignity that soon becomes familiar.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
20 June 2025
Adjective
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Deepfakes have been growing more sophisticated in recent years, in addition to being increasingly deployed for malicious purposes.—
Shannon Bond,
NPR,
10 July 2025
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The best way to safeguard yourself from malicious links that install malware, potentially accessing your private information, is to have antivirus software installed on all your devices.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
10 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Disdainful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/disdainful. Accessed 22 Jul. 2025.
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