Library / English Dictionary

SCORN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Open disrespect for a person or thing

Synonyms:

contempt; scorn

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

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

discourtesy; disrespect (an expression of lack of respect)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "scorn"):

fleer (contempt expressed by mockery in looks or words)

leer; sneer (a facial expression of contempt or scorn; the upper lip curls)

sneer (a contemptuous or scornful remark)

Derivation:

scorn (look down on with disdain)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike

Example:

the despite in which outsiders were held is legendary

Synonyms:

contempt; despite; disdain; scorn

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

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

dislike (a feeling of aversion or antipathy)

Derivation:

scorn (look down on with disdain)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Reject with contempt

Example:

She spurned his advances

Synonyms:

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

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "scorn" 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 "scorn"):

rebuff; repel; snub (reject outright and bluntly)

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

scorner (a person who expresses contempt by remarks or facial expression)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Look down on with disdain

Example:

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

Synonyms:

contemn; despise; disdain; scorn

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

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

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

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

look down on (regard with contempt)

Sentence frames:

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

Sentence example:

Sam cannot scorn Sue

Derivation:

scorn (open disrespect for a person or thing)

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

scorner (a person who expresses contempt by remarks or facial expression)

Credits

 Context examples: 

He haled forth Wolf Larsen’s soul naked to the scorn of men.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I had feelings of affection, and they were requited by detestation and scorn.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Good, as goodness might be measured in their particular class, hard-working for meagre wages and scorning the sale of self for easier ways, nervously desirous for some small pinch of happiness in the desert of existence, and facing a future that was a gamble between the ugliness of unending toil and the black pit of more terrible wretchedness, the way whereto being briefer though better paid.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The two men’s faces were not more than a few inches apart, and Sir Lothian’s bold eyes had to sink before the imperious scorn which gleamed coldly in those of my uncle.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

What I felt on hearing that your sister was dying—and dying too, believing me the greatest villain upon earth, scorning, hating me in her latest moments—for how could I tell what horrid projects might not have been imputed?

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

The Admiral hates trouble, and scorns asking favours; and there are so many young men's claims to be attended to in the same way, that a friendship and energy, not very determined, is easily put by.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Had Lydia's marriage been concluded on the most honourable terms, it was not to be supposed that Mr. Darcy would connect himself with a family where, to every other objection, would now be added an alliance and relationship of the nearest kind with a man whom he so justly scorned.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

A glance at the old chest, as she turned away from this examination, was not without its use; she scorned the causeless fears of an idle fancy, and began with a most happy indifference to prepare herself for bed.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

"I scorn your idea of love," I could not help saying, as I rose up and stood before him, leaning my back against the rock.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

But when the proud princess perceived that he was not her equal in birth, she scorned him, and required him first to perform another task.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)