Refine this word faster
Scorn
Definitions
- 1 Contempt or disdain. uncountable
"Rain of tears, real, mist of imagined scorn"
- 2 open disrespect for a person or thing wordnet
- 3 A display of disdain; a slight. countable
"VVith ſcoffes and ſcornes, and contumelious taunts, / In open Market-place produc't they me, / To be a publique ſpectacle to all: / Here, ſayd they, is the Terror of the French, / The Scar-Crovv that affrights our Children ſo."
- 4 lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike wordnet
- 5 An object of disdain, contempt, or derision. countable
"Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us."
- 1 To feel or display contempt or disdain for something or somebody; to despise. transitive
"The Cry is ſtill, they come: our Caſtles ſtrength / Will laugh a Siedge to ſcorne"
- 2 reject with contempt wordnet
- 3 To reject, turn down. transitive
"He scorned her romantic advances."
- 4 look down on with disdain wordnet
- 5 To refuse to do something, as beneath oneself. transitive
"She scorned to show weakness."
Show 1 more definition
- 6 To scoff, to express contempt. intransitive
"For miſerie doth braueſt mindes abate, / And make them ſeeke for that they wont to ſcorne, / Of fortune and of hope at once forlorne."
Etymology
Verb from Middle English scornen, schornen, alteration of Old French escharnir, from Vulgar Latin *escarnire, from Proto-West Germanic *skarnijan, possibly from Proto-Germanic *skeraną (“to shear”) (from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”)), or possibly related to *skarną (“dung, filth”) (from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱerd-, *(s)ḱer- (“dung, manure, filth”)). Noun from Old French escarn (cognate with Portuguese escárnio, Spanish escarnio and Italian scherno). Cognate with Middle High German schern (“joke, mockery, scorn”), Old English sċierniċġe (“female entertainer, juggler, actress”).
Verb from Middle English scornen, schornen, alteration of Old French escharnir, from Vulgar Latin *escarnire, from Proto-West Germanic *skarnijan, possibly from Proto-Germanic *skeraną (“to shear”) (from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”)), or possibly related to *skarną (“dung, filth”) (from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱerd-, *(s)ḱer- (“dung, manure, filth”)). Noun from Old French escarn (cognate with Portuguese escárnio, Spanish escarnio and Italian scherno). Cognate with Middle High German schern (“joke, mockery, scorn”), Old English sċierniċġe (“female entertainer, juggler, actress”).
See also for "scorn"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: scorn