contemptuous

adjective

con·​temp·​tu·​ous kən-ˈtem(p)-chə-wəs 

-chəs,

-shwəs,

-chü-əs

: manifesting, feeling, or expressing deep hatred or disapproval : feeling or showing contempt

contemptuously adverb

contemptuousness noun

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What Is the Difference Between contemptuous and contemptible?

Contemptuous and contemptible are sometimes confused with each other. This is neither surprising, as they are similar in appearance, nor is it unprecedented: the words were used interchangeably for several hundred years (from the 16^th through the 18^th century), with each one meaning both "deserving contempt" and "showing contempt." By the early 19^th century, some commentators began raising objections when the words were used synonymously, suggesting that they should be distinguished, with contemptuous meaning only "showing contempt" and contemptible only "deserving contempt."

In the following passage, for example, a would-be critic is ridiculed for using contemptible in the sense "showing contempt":

“Young man! my opinion of you is very contemptible.” “All your opinions are contemptible,” rejoined Phillip, quietly.  – Garry Avenel, Zou Mou, in The Iris, September, 1841

The distinction hinted at in this rebuke has been observed in English, by professional writers anyway, for close to 200 years.

Synonyms

• abhorrent
• disdainful
• scornful

Examples of contemptuous in a Sentence

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

In his 1978 Harvard commencement address, Mr. Solzhenitsyn seemed at times contemptuous of American democracy … —Daniel Patrick Moynihan, New York Times Book Review, 24 Nov. 1991

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

loutish tourists who are contemptuous of the ways and traditions of their host countries

contemptuous comments about the baseball team's pathetic showings

Recent Examples on the Web

Yet the Administration persisted with its disobedient, if not contemptuous, behavior. —Ruth Marcus, New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2025

According to an ancient Greek myth, all those who had fallen in love with the young man Narcissus were met with contemptuous rejection. —Abigayle Ward, Hartford Courant, 8 Mar. 2025

The president was also profoundly contemptuous of women, kept his true opposition to female suffrage carefully hidden, and allowed the suffragists who silently held banners outside the White House to be repeatedly attacked by mobs, beaten, and jailed. —Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025

The arguments Republicans have made in their opposition to Joe Biden’s contemptuous pardons are pretty compelling. —Noah Rothman, National Review, 21 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

probably borrowed from Medieval Latin contemptuōsus, from Latin contemptu-, stem of contemptus contempt + -ōsus -ous

First Known Use

1574, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

contemptuous

adjective

con·​temp·​tu·​ous kən-ˈtem(p)-ch(ə-w)əs 

-ˈtem(p)sh-wəs

: feeling or showing hate or deep disapproval

contemptuously adverb

contemptuousness noun