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Webster 1913 Edition


Scorn

Scorn

(skôrn)
,
Noun.
[OE.
scorn
,
scarn
,
scharn
, OF.
escarn
,
escharn
,
eschar
, of German origin; cf. OHG.
skern
mockery,
skernōn
to mock; but cf. also OF.
escorner
to mock.]
1.
Extreme and lofty contempt; haughty disregard; that disdain which springs from the opinion of the utter meanness and unworthiness of an object.
Scorn
at first makes after love the more.
Shakespeare
And wandered backward as in
scorn
,
To wait an aeon to be born.
Emerson.
2.
An act or expression of extreme contempt.
Every sullen frown and bitter
scorn

But fanned the fuel that too fast did burn.
Dryden.
3.
An object of extreme disdain, contempt, or derision.
Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors, a
scorn
and a derision to them that are round about us.
Ps. xliv. 13.
To think scorn
,
to regard as worthy of scorn or contempt; to disdain.
“He thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone.”
Esther iii. 6.
To laugh to scorn
,
to deride; to make a mock of; to ridicule as contemptible.
Syn. – Contempt; disdain; derision; contumely; despite; slight; dishonor; mockery.

Scorn

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Scorned
(skôrnd)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Scoring
.]
[OE.
scornen
,
scarnen
,
schornen
, OF.
escarnir
,
escharnir
. See
Scorn
,
Noun.
]
1.
To hold in extreme contempt; to reject as unworthy of regard; to despise; to contemn; to disdain.
I
scorn
thy meat; ’t would choke me.
Shakespeare
This my long sufferance, and my day of grace,
Those who neglect and
scorn
shall never taste.
Milton.
We
scorn
what is in itself contemptible or disgraceful.
C. J. Smith.
2.
To treat with extreme contempt; to make the object of insult; to mock; to scoff at; to deride.
His fellow, that lay by his bed's side,
Gan for to laugh, and
scorned
him full fast.
Chaucer.
To taunt and
scorn
you thus opprobriously.
Shakespeare
Syn. – To contemn; despise; disdain. See
Contemn
.

Scorn

(skôrn)
,
Verb.
I.
To scoff; to mock; to show contumely, derision, or reproach; to act disdainfully.
He said mine eyes were black and my hair black,
And, now I am remembered,
scorned
at me.
Shakespeare

Webster 1828 Edition


Scorn

SCORN

, n.
1.
Extreme contempt; that disdain which springs from a person's opinion of the meanness of an object, and a consciousness or belief of his own superiority or worth.
He thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone. Esther 3.
Every sullen frown and bitter scorn but fann'd the fuel that too fast did burn.
2.
A subject of extreme contempt, disdain or derision; that which is treated with contempt.
Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and a derision to them that are around us. Ps. 44.
To think scorn, to disdain; to despise. obs.
To laugh to scorn, to deride; to make a mock of; to ridicule as contemptible.
They laughed us to scorn. Neh. 2.

SCORN

, v.t.
1.
to hold in extreme contempt; to despise; to contemn; to disdain. job. 16.
Surely he scorneth the scorner; but he giveth grace to the lowly. Prov. 3.
2.
to think unworth; to disdain.
Fame that delights around the world to stray, scorns not to take our Argos in her way.
3.
To slight; to disregard; to neglect.
This my long suff'rance and my day of grace, those who neglect and scorn, shall never taste.

SCORN

,
Verb.
I.
To scorn at, to scoff at; to treat with contumely, derision or reproach. Obs.

Definition 2024


scorn

scorn

English

Verb

scorn (third-person singular simple present scorns, present participle scorning, simple past and past participle scorned)

  1. (transitive) To feel or display contempt or disdain for something or somebody; to despise.
    • C. J. Smith
      We scorn what is in itself contemptible or disgraceful.
  2. (intransitive) To scoff, express contempt.
  3. (transitive) To reject, turn down
    He scorned her romantic advances.
  4. (transitive) To refuse to do something, as beneath oneself.
    She scorned to show weakness.

Synonyms

Translations

Noun

scorn (countable and uncountable, plural scorns)

  1. (uncountable) Contempt or disdain.
  2. (countable) A display of disdain; a slight.
    • Dryden
      Every sullen frown and bitter scorn / But fanned the fuel that too fast did burn.
  3. (countable) An object of disdain, contempt, or derision.
    • Bible, Psalms xliv. 13
      Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.

Usage notes

  • Scorn is often used in the phrases pour scorn on and heap scorn on.

Quotations

  • circa 1605: The cry is still 'They come': our castle's strength / Will laugh a siege to scorn William Shakespeare, Macbeth
  • 1967, Rain of tears, real, mist of imagined scorn John Berryman, Berryman's Sonnets. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Synonyms

  • See also Wikisaurus:contempt

Translations

Derived terms

Anagrams