Find the word definition

Crossword clues for despise

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
despise
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
man
▪ But if she let fitzAlan carry her off and marry her she would be completely powerless against a man who despised her.
▪ For there her body lies, side by side with Carlisle Graham, a man she despised.
▪ Married to a man I despise just to have a roof over my head and a ring on my finger!
▪ Wasn't Rune Christensen as much a player of games as the man he purported to despise?
▪ She could not conceive the feelings of a woman who carried the child of a man she despised.
▪ How could she, even fleetingly, entertain such a thought for a man who despised her so deeply and so openly?
▪ She, in turn, marries a man she despises to ensure that Laurel will leave and go to her father.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ I felt that the other kids despised me for having the wrong accent and the wrong colour skin.
▪ If you fly a lot on business, then you probably despise most airports.
▪ Otis despised inherited wealth and social class.
▪ We were brought up to despise the people from the poor side of town. They seemed so dirty and ignorant.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ For there her body lies, side by side with Carlisle Graham, a man she despised.
▪ How I had despised his brutishness then, and how I longed for his toughness, his uncomplicated, animal certainty now.
▪ No wonder Adam had seemed at times to hate her, certainly to despise her.
▪ Not that I know much about him, just that my philosophical friend Kevin Rice despised him.
▪ The Earth, and the Goddess, become fearful as well as despised.
▪ They despised the idea and even the word innovation.
▪ We become a piece of all that we despise.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Despise

Despise \De*spise"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Despised; p. pr. & vb. n. Despising.] [OF. despis-, in some forms of despire to despise, fr. L. despicere, despectum, to look down upon, despise; de- + spicere, specere, to look. See Spy, and cf. Despicable, Despite.] To look down upon with disfavor or contempt; to contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have a low opinion or contemptuous dislike of.

Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
--Prov. i. 7.

Men naturally despise those who court them, but respect those who do not give way to them.
--Jowett (Thucyd. ).

Syn: To contemn; scorn; disdain; slight; undervalue. See Contemn.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
despise

c.1300, from Old French despis-, present participle stem of despire "to despise," from Latin despicere "look down on, scorn," from de- "down" (see de-) + spicere/specere "look at" (see scope (n.1)). Related: Despised; despising.

Wiktionary
despise

vb. 1 To regard with contempt or scorn. 2 To disregard or ignore.

WordNet
despise

v. look down on with disdain; "He despises the people he has to work for"; "The professor scorns the students who don't catch on immediately" [syn: contemn, scorn, disdain]

Wikipedia
Despise

Despise means to regard with contempt or scorn. It may also refer to:

Music
  • Despised Icon, an extreme metal band
  • Despise the Sun, an album
  • A song by metal band, Slipknot on the digipak version of their self-titled album. The lyrics were later reused in the b-side track Purity.
  • "I Despise You", a song on Punkophilia! by the Bulbulators
  • "Despicable Heroes", a song on the Anthems of Rebellion album by Arch Enemy
  • "Despicable", a song by the artist Eminem
Film and Television
  • Despicable Villain! The Mystery of Onigumo!, an InuYasha anime episode
  • Despicable Me, a 2010 animated comedy film starring Steve Carell and Jason Segel
Miscellaneous
  • One of the eight dungeons opposing the eight virtues in the Ultima series

Usage examples of "despise".

The group of women whom Amathera used to meet in secret were friends Andric despised, and the shocking discovery that she financed several smuggling craft led nowhere.

Devereaux regarded the new DCI as a politically correct nincompoop appointed by the Arkansan President whom, although a fellow Democrat, he despised, and that was before Paula Jones and Monica Lewinsky.

Nero himself excelled, or affected to excel, in the elegant arts of music and poetry: nor should we despise his pursuits, had he not converted the pleasing relaxation of a leisure hour into the serious business and ambition of his life.

So we are equally despised by the Iraqis, the Iranians, the Chinese, Russians, Kazakhs, Armenians, Azeris, and so on.

Khan Bahadoor Khan ruled at Bareilly, and his force was not to be despised.

Despising the size of the Belgic group sent to harry the foraging party they were escorting, the Remi took off in pursuit and were led into an ambush.

A New Yorker, even a car-loving Brooklynite like me, is happy on foot, and I loathe and despise the Bypass.

I despised him, a low person, a boob of limited vocabulary, unable to express his own thoughts, however nasty, except through the brummagem medium of foul language.

The Nazis most despised the pious Hasids of the Aguda, and they knew the Bundists and the Communists would never act as their tools.

The elders of the city, the uncles of the prophet, affected to despise the presumption of an orphan, the reformer of his country: the pious orations of Mahomet in the Caaba were answered by the clamors of Abu Taleb.

God, despising him and his Sacraments, that thou dost transgress divine law, Holy Scripture and the canons of the Church, that thou thinkest evil and dost err from the faith, that thou art full of vain boasting, that thou art addicted to idolatry and worship of thyself and thy clothes, according to the customs of the heathen.

Our army and cavalla were little better, shunned and mocked when they abandoned their uniforms to become beggars, despised as cowards and incompetents if they chose to remain in the service of the king.

This is a curious fact, for as a rule these bargellos are spies, liars, traitors, cheats, and misanthropes, for a man despised hates his despisers.

He confirms himself especially on seeing the impious advanced to honors and becoming leaders in the state or in the church, abounding, too, in riches and living in luxury and magnificence, and on the other hand sees worshipers of God despised and poor.

Subsequent generations came to despise him and Puritanism in general because of what he and they believed about the invisible world, which to Mather and his coreligionists consisted of demons, devils, familiars, and witches, all of which filled the air of New England, whispering into the ears of unsuspecting believers the joys of serving the devil.