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despise. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
despise, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
despise in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
despise you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English despisen, from Old French despis-, stem of despire, from Latin dēspicere, present active infinitive of dēspiciō (“I look down upon, despise, scorn”), from dē (“down”) + speciō (“I look at”). Displaced native Old English forsēon.
Pronunciation
Verb
despise (third-person singular simple present despises, present participle despising, simple past and past participle despised)
- To regard with contempt or scorn.
James still despises his brother for the time he pushed him out of a tree during their childhood.
- To disregard or ignore.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
to regard with contempt or scorn
- Afrikaans: verag
- Arabic: اِحْتَقَرَ (iḥtaqara), أَهَانَ (ʔahāna)
- Belarusian: пагарджа́ць impf (pahardžácʹ)
- Bulgarian: презира́м (bg) impf (prezirám)
- Catalan: menysprear (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 鄙薄 (zh) (bǐbó), 鄙夷 (zh) (bǐyí), 蔑視／蔑视 (zh) (mièshì), 藐視／藐视 (zh) (miǎoshì), 輕視／轻视 (zh) (qīngshì)
- Czech: pohrdat (cs) impf, opovrhovat (cs) impf
- Dalmatian: despreziur
- Danish: foragte
- Dutch: verachten (nl)
- Esperanto: abomeni (eo)
- Finnish: halveksia (fi), halveksua (fi)
- French: mépriser (fr), dédaigner (fr)
- Galician: desprezar (gl)
- German: verachten (de)
- Greek:
- Ancient: φαυλίζω (phaulízō), καταφρονέω (kataphronéō)
- Hindi: उपेक्षा करना (upekṣā karnā)
- Hungarian: lenéz (hu), megvet (hu)
- Irish: fuath a bheith agat, drochmheas a bheith agat
- Old Irish: do·meiccethar
- Italian: disprezzare (it)
- Japanese: 蔑む (ja) (sagesumu), 見下す (mikudasu), 軽蔑する (ja) (keibetsu suru), 嫌悪する (ja) (ken'o suru)
- Korean: 경멸하다 (ko) (gyeongmyeol-hada), 멸시하다 (ko) (myeolsi-hada)
- Latin: despiciō, contemnō
- Luxembourgish: veruechten, mepriséieren
- Maori: whakahāwea, whakatakao, whakaparahako, whakakurīmōri, whakamanumanu, whakareko
- Old English: forsēon
- Persian: خوار شمردن (xwâr šemordan) (bookish)
- Polish: gardzić (pl) impf, pogardzać (pl) impf
- Portuguese: desprezar (pt)
- Russian: презира́ть (ru) impf (prezirátʹ), презре́ть (ru) pf (prezrétʹ)
- Slovak: pohŕdať impf, opovrhovať impf
- Spanish: desdeñar (es)
- Swahili: dharau (sw)
- Swedish: förakta (sv)
- Turkish: hor görmek (tr), aşağılamak (tr), küçümsemek (tr)
- Ukrainian: зневажа́ти (uk) impf (znevažáty), знева́жити pf (znevážyty)
- Volapük: nestümön (vo)
- Yiddish: פֿײַנט האָבן (faynt hobn), פֿאַראַכטן (farakhtn)
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See also
Further reading
- “despise”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “despise”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams