1
as in disdainful
feeling or showing open dislike for someone or something regarded as undeserving of respect or concern
loutish tourists who are contemptuous of the ways and traditions of their host countries
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in slighting
intended to make a person or thing seem of little importance or value
contemptuous comments about the baseball team's pathetic showings
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Examples 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 contemptuous
Trump didn’t go for broad appeal Fabrizio and his allies were openly contemptuous of efforts—in the primary and then the general—to reach more voters.
—
Philip Elliott, TIME, 6 Dec. 2024
The curious tension between the president’s sympathetic rhetoric and his administration’s more hostile actions has increased the risk that a contemptuous and irritated Russia will poke back in eastern Europe.
—Eliot A. Cohen, Foreign Affairs, 20 Jan. 2018
Critics have affixed to his output any number of adjectives meant to communicate its basic darkness: acerbic, malicious, cruel, contemptuous.
—Brandon Sanchez, Vulture, 25 Oct. 2024
The rocket lifted away slowly, as though in contemptuous defiance of physics.
—David W. Brown, The New Yorker, 15 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for contemptuous 
Philip Elliott, TIME, 6 Dec. 2024
The curious tension between the president’s sympathetic rhetoric and his administration’s more hostile actions has increased the risk that a contemptuous and irritated Russia will poke back in eastern Europe.
—Eliot A. Cohen, Foreign Affairs, 20 Jan. 2018
Critics have affixed to his output any number of adjectives meant to communicate its basic darkness: acerbic, malicious, cruel, contemptuous.
—Brandon Sanchez, Vulture, 25 Oct. 2024
The rocket lifted away slowly, as though in contemptuous defiance of physics.
—David W. Brown, The New Yorker, 15 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for contemptuous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for contemptuous
Adjective
-
Now, the norms for AI will emerge in a political and cultural environment that's hostile to regulation and disdainful of limits.—
Scott Rosenberg,
Axios,
8 Jan. 2025
-
By and large, though, in Lyman’s view, conservatives were the new gonzo journalists, the ones sending back authentic reports from high-drama situations, disdainful of institutions and politically correct messaging.—
Rachel Monroe,
The New Yorker,
20 Dec. 2024
Adjective
-
What price female solidarity and empowerment, after all, if the weapon of actualization is an abusive system, one that invariably draws Santosh into its clubby, scornful, vigilante mindset?—
Robert Abele,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Jan. 2025
-
Yet feeling out of place has, ironically, brought Escola even closer to their Mary Todd Lincoln, whose fear that a scornful world might keep her offstage gives the show an unexpected pathos.—
Julian Lucas,
The New Yorker,
2 Aug. 2024
Adjective
-
This disastrous budget is even more insulting as Los Angeles County grapples with the devastation from four major fires.—
Bill Essayli,
Orange County Register,
11 Jan. 2025
-
Hinchcliffe, who is not Puerto Rican, was just plain cruel, insulting and dehumanizing.—
David Plazas,
The Tennessean,
29 Oct. 2024
Adjective
-
Julie Bowen and Christopher McDonald return as love interest Virginia Venit and arrogant rival Shooter McGavin, respectively, and the cast includes rookies like Bad Bunny, Travis Kelce and pro wrestler Maxwell Jacob Friedman.—
Brian Truitt,
USA TODAY,
17 Jan. 2025
-
Those include genial second-year resident Dr. King (Taylor Dearden), arrogant intern Santos (Isa Briones), and doe-eyed med students Javadi (Shabana Azeez) and Whittaker (Gerran Howell).—
Ryan Schwartz,
TVLine,
9 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
While conceding that standard phishing methods, those that typically require threat actors to craft malicious emails that are delivered to a wide audience, are relatively easy for email platforms to detect and block, that’s not the case with this phishless attack.—
Davey Winder,
Forbes,
11 Jan. 2025
-
Alec Baldwin sues New Mexico, claiming malicious prosecution.—
Ryan Fonseca,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
Detective Inspector Paul Dalton said offences of this nature are abhorrent and CPIU detectives are committed to protecting children from harm and holding offenders to account.—
Jon Haworth,
ABC News,
16 Jan. 2025
-
The upshot for all this is, for the first time ever, neither Russia nor Iran nor Hezbollah could defend this abhorrent regime in Syria.—
Hannah Parry,
Newsweek,
9 Dec. 2024
Adjective
-
The 2023 Economic Report Of The President published in March of 2023 was relatively disparaging of cryptoassets and DLTs.—
Lawrence Wintermeyer,
Forbes,
5 Dec. 2024
-
Prior to appearing on Cunningham's show on Monday, Huggins made more disparaging remarks about Xavier.—
Emily DeLetter,
The Enquirer,
10 May 2023
Adjective
-
And having more thoughtful conversations doesn’t preclude the need sometimes to confront those who are needlessly cruel or organizations that benefit from such exploitation.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
18 Jan. 2025
-
In recent months, the Justice Department and the state filed thousands of pages of new records in the lawsuit, including reports and sworn statements from pediatricians, scholars and others who describe Florida’s policies as archaic and cruel.—
Carol Marbin Miller,
Miami Herald,
17 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near contemptuous
Cite this Entry
“Contemptuous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/contemptuous. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share