as in contempt
open dislike for someone or something considered unworthy of one's concern or respect
has nothing but scorn for newfangled ideas of any kind
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in to disdain
to show contempt for
scorned the religious traditions of their ancestors
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to despise
to ignore in a disrespectful manner
she scorned the advice of her ophthalmologist and had the laser eye surgery anyway
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of scorn
Mary Clare Jalonick, Fortune, 1 Oct. 2025
The piece instantly became the subject of viral memes and inspired an uproarious exchange on TNT’s NBA Tip-Off during which Charles Barkley couldn’t contain his scorn.
—Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 30 Aug. 2025
Shai Tubali, Big Think, 30 Sep. 2025
The scorelessness has turned to scorn, too.
—Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 28 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for scorn
Noun
The standoff is a political test for Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, who has drawn scorn from a restive base of left-flank voters pushing the party to hold firm in its demands for health care funding.
—Mary Clare Jalonick, Fortune, 1 Oct. 2025
The piece instantly became the subject of viral memes and inspired an uproarious exchange on TNT’s NBA Tip-Off during which Charles Barkley couldn’t contain his scorn.
—Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 30 Aug. 2025
Verb
By 1845, Marx was scorning his colleagues for floating in the clouds.
—Shai Tubali, Big Think, 30 Sep. 2025
The scorelessness has turned to scorn, too.
—Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 28 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for scorn
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scorn
Noun
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While support for the president and contempt for the left has united conservative media for years, Gaza has been driving a wedge between two of the right’s biggest names.—
Max Tani,
semafor.com,
27 Oct. 2025
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The group pledged support for the creatives known as the Hollywood Ten, who were cited for contempt of Congress after refusing to address the House Un-American Activities Committee about supposed communist affiliations.—
Ryan Gajewski,
HollywoodReporter,
27 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
California’s Democratic establishment disdains Citizen Pratt.—
Gary Baum,
HollywoodReporter,
16 Oct. 2025
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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
Verb
-
Both brothers despise their father, for good reason.—
Karl Ove Knausgaard,
New Yorker,
21 Oct. 2025
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The fact that the film is named after its subject’s most beloved — and most despised by Hart himself — hit tells you everything.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
15 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
My darling, hatred takes the beauty away.—
Tracee Ellis Ross,
Glamour,
27 Oct. 2025
-
Muschietti touched on this in his movies — the bullying of Mike Hanlon and the hate-crime murder of Adrian Mellon — including the way Pennywise fosters and foments the hatred already lurking in the hearts of Derry’s citizens.—
Louis Peitzman,
Vulture,
27 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Lee disrespects national park values with these twin bills, and Curtis, who likes to tout his nature sensitivity on hikes with constituents, should know better.—
Stephen Trimble,
Denver Post,
20 Oct. 2025
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The premiere episode opens with Colter starting a brawl in a small town bar after another patron disrespects the bartender.—
Katie Campione,
Deadline,
19 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The Raine family’s lawyers will have to prove that OpenAI was aware of the risks posed by ChatGPT and disregarded them.—
Nikita Ostrovsky,
Time,
23 Oct. 2025
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This time, the environmental advocacy group contended that San Diego’s supplemental analysis of the visual impacts of taller buildings, prepared in advance of the 2022 ballot measure, disregarded other consequential environmental factors.—
Jennifer Van Grove,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
21 Oct. 2025
Verb
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When the pandemic arrived, Bellotti and Goodman recognized that the growing constituency of people who’d come to hate scientists could also, with the right messaging, be made to hate the fact that scientists experimented on animals.—
Ava Kofman,
New Yorker,
3 Nov. 2025
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Sometimes people love you, people hate you.—
Edward Segarra,
USA Today,
3 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Scorn.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scorn. Accessed 5 Nov. 2025.
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