scorn Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
    despite; contempt; disdain.
    • he was held in contempt
    • the despite in which outsiders were held is legendary
  2. noun open disrespect for a person or thing
    contempt.
  3. verb look down on with disdain
    despise; disdain; contemn.
    • He despises the people he has to work for
    • The professor scorns the students who don't catch on immediately
  4. verb reject with contempt
    freeze off; spurn; disdain; reject; pooh-pooh; turn down.
    • She spurned his advances

WordNet

Scorn noun
Etymology
OE. scorn, scarn, scharn, OF. escarn, escharn, eschar, of German origin; cf. OHG. skern mockery, skernn to mock; but cf. also OF. escorner to mock.
Definitions
  1. Extreme and lofty contempt; haughty disregard; that disdain which aprings from the opinion of the utter meanness and unworthiness of an object.
    Scorn at first makes after love the more. Shak.
    And wandered backward as in scorn, To wait an æon 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.
    Syn. -- Contempt; disdain; derision; contumely; despite; slight; dishonor; mockery.
Scorn transitive verb
Etymology
OE. scornen, scarnen, schornen, OF. escarning, escharnir. See Scorn, n.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Scorned ; present participle & verbal noun Scoring
Definitions
  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. Shak.
    This my long sufference, 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. Shak.
    Syn. -- To contemn; despise; disdain. See Contemn.
Scorn intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To scoff; to act disdainfully.
    He said mine eyes were black and my hair black, And, now I remembered, scorned at me. Shak.

Webster 1913