scorn
noun
- feeling of contempt, disdain, or despisement
verb
- despise
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /skɔːn/ / /skɔɹn/
noun
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”).
- Contempt or disdain.
“Rain of tears, real, mist of imagined scorn”
- A display of disdain; a slight.
“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.”
“Every sullen frown and bitter scorn / But fanned the fuel that too fast did burn.”
- An object of disdain, contempt, or derision.
“Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.”
verb
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”).
- To feel or display contempt or disdain for something or somebody; to despise.
“The Cry is ſtill, they come: our Caſtles ſtrength / Will laugh a Siedge to ſcorne”
“We scorn what is in itself contemptible or disgraceful.”
- To reject, turn down with disdain.
“He scorned her romantic advances.”
“Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd, / Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman ſcorn'd.”
- To refuse to do something, as beneath oneself.
“She scorned to show weakness.”
- To scoff, to express contempt.
“For miſerie doth braueſt mindes abate, / And make them ſeeke for that they wont to ſcorne, / Of fortune and of hope at once forlorne.”