DISDAIN

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does disdain mean? 

• DISDAIN (noun)
  The noun DISDAIN has 2 senses:

1. lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike

2. a communication that indicates lack of respect by patronizing the recipient

  Familiarity information: DISDAIN used as a noun is rare.

• DISDAIN (verb)
  The verb DISDAIN has 2 senses:

1. look down on with disdain

2. reject with contempt

  Familiarity information: DISDAIN used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DISDAIN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

contempt; despite; disdain; scorn

Context example:

the despite in which outsiders were held is legendary

Hypernyms ("disdain" is a kind of...):

dislike (a feeling of aversion or antipathy)

Derivation:

disdain (look down on with disdain)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A communication that indicates lack of respect by patronizing the recipient

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

condescension; disdain; patronage

Hypernyms ("disdain" is a kind of...):

depreciation; derogation; disparagement (a communication that belittles somebody or something)

• DISDAIN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they disdain    ... he / she / it disdains   
Past simple: disdained   
Past participle: disdained   
-ing form: disdaining   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Look down on with disdain

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

contemn; despise; disdain; scorn

Context example:

The professor scorns the students who don't catch on immediately

Hypernyms (to "disdain" is one way to...):

detest; hate (dislike intensely; feel antipathy or aversion towards)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "disdain"):

look down on (regard with contempt)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot disdain Sue

Derivation:

disdain (lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Reject with contempt

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

disdain; freeze off; pooh-pooh; reject; scorn; spurn; turn down

Context example:

She spurned his advances

Hypernyms (to "disdain" is one way to...):

decline; refuse (show unwillingness towards)

Verb group:

decline; pass up; refuse; reject; turn down (refuse to accept)

refuse; reject; turn away; turn down (refuse entrance or membership)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "disdain"):

rebuff; repel; snub (reject outright and bluntly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

 Context examples 

Unlike most leaders, who, when camp was made and the dogs were unhitched, huddled near to the gods for protection, White Fang disdained such protection.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

But this animal seemed to receive my civilities with disdain, shook his head, and bent his brows, softly raising up his right fore-foot to remove my hand.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

I dared not think that they would turn them from me with disdain and horror.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

“Not to be eaten,” cried the physician, in high disdain.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She cast a look of the deepest disdain in his direction.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Wolf Larsen dropped my hand with a flirt of disdain.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

We had parted angrily on the last occasion; and there was an air of disdain about her, which she took no pains to conceal.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

None of that upright integrity, that strict adherence to truth and principle, that disdain of trick and littleness, which a man should display in every transaction of his life.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Sometimes he covered his own face with his left, and sometimes he disdained to use any guard at all, but his springing hits were irresistible.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Our importance, our respectability in the world must be affected by the wild volatility, the assurance and disdain of all restraint which mark Lydia's character.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)