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Contemptible   /kəntˈɛmptəbəl/   Listen
adjective
Contemptible  adj.  
1.
Worthy of contempt; deserving of scorn or disdain; mean; vile; despicable. "The arguments of tyranny are ascontemptible as its force is dreadful."
2.
Despised; scorned; neglected; abject.
3.
Insolent; scornful; contemptuous. (Obs.) "If she should make tender of her love, 't is very possible he 'll scorn it; for the man... hath a contemptible spirit."
Synonyms: Despicable; abject; vile; mean; base; paltry; worthless; sorry; pitiful; scurrile. See Contemptuous. Contemptible, Despicable, Pitiful, Paltry. Despicable is stronger than contemptible, as despise is stronger than contemn. It implies keen disapprobation, with a mixture of anger. A man is despicable chiefly for low actions which mark his life, such as servility, baseness, or mean adulation. A man is contemptible for mean qualities which distinguish his character, especially those which show him to be weak, foolish, or worthless. Treachery is despicable, egotism is contemptible. Pitiful and paltry are applied to cases which are beneath anger, and are simply contemptible in a high degree.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Contemptible" Quotes from Famous Books



... with the other, after a hearty fit of laughing, asked me, whether I was a whig or a tory? Then turning to his first minister, who waited behind him with a white staff, near as tall as the mainmast of the "Royal Sovereign[60]," he observed how contemptible a thing was human grandeur, which could be mimicked by such diminutive insects as I: and yet, says he, I dare engage these creatures have their titles and distinctions of honor; they contrive little nests and burrows, that they call houses ...
— Gulliver's Travels - Into Several Remote Regions of the World • Jonathan Swift

... remained gay. I wish for nothing, except for things that can't be purchased. Still, want is the great abomination which distresses me. I can understand that you should have felt everything crumbling when charity appeared to you so insufficient a remedy as to be contemptible. Yet it does bring relief; and, moreover, it is so sweet to be able to give. Some day, too, by dint of reason and toil, by the good and efficient working of life itself, the reign of justice will surely come. But now it's I that am preaching! Oh! ...
— The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete - Lourdes, Rome and Paris • Emile Zola

... our contemptible ship was ready; to sea we went, bound for Honolulu and the letter-bag, on Christmas Day; and from then to now have experienced every sort of minor misfortune, squalls, calms, contrary winds and seas, pertinacious rains, declining stores, till we came ...
— Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson - Volume 2 • Robert Louis Stevenson

... all happened before I received this," she said to herself, tearing up the letter. "At least I'm not so contemptible as I might have been had I done as Mamma ...
— How Ethel Hollister Became a Campfire Girl • Irene Elliott Benson

... a good name for them," jeered Elfreda. "I wouldn't call it 'odd,' I'd use a stronger word than that. It's contemptible. I'm sorry I asked her to go ...
— Grace Harlowe's Second Year at Overton College • Jessie Graham Flower


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