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Meaning of contempt in English

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contempt
noun [ U ]

UK & /kənˈtempt / US & /kənˈtempt /

contempt noun [U] (NO RESPECT)

! )

C2

a strong feeling of disliking and having no

respect for someone or something:

• At school she had complete contempt for all

her teachers.
• You should treat those remarks with the
contempt that they deserve.
• She's beneath contempt (= I have no
respect for her)!

*(hold someone/something in contempt

! )

to feel contempt for someone or

something:

• I would never hold someone in contempt for

making a few mistakes in English.

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• She looked at him with undisguised

contempt.
• He rewarded their kindness with hostility
and contempt.
• Both Shelley and Byron had a
passionate contempt for cant and
hypocrisy.
• The boy shows utter contempt for
authority and is virtually uncontrollable.
• In their senseless killing of innocent
people, the terrorists display total
contempt for human life.

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contempt noun [U] (NOT OBEYING)

! )

LAW • specialized

(also contempt of court)

behaviour that is illegal because it does not

obey or respect the rules of a law court:

• The tobacco companies may be guilty of

contempt of court for refusing to produce the
documents.

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(Definition of contempt from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's

Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

contempt | AMERICAN DICTIONARY

contempt
noun [ U ]

US & /kənˈtempt /

! )

a strong feeling of lack of respect for

someone or something:

• They were bullies, and they showed

contempt for everyone and everything.

contemptuously
adverb US & /kənˈtemp·tʃu·əs·li /

• He spoke contemptuously of his former

boss.

(Definition of contempt from the Cambridge Academic Content

Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

EXAMPLES of contempt

contempt
A good newspaper, it is said, is a collection of official
secrets interspersed with defamatory statements
and contempts of court.
From the Hansard archive ,

I have referred to magistrates courts, but breaches

of orders in higher courts could be dealt with as
contempts.
From the Hansard archive ,

The result is that infringements of the statute are

thereafter liable to be punished as contempts of
court.
From the Hansard archive ,

They are privileges and contempts fixed and

determined by precedent.
From the Hansard archive ,

First, it seeks to restrict what might loosely be called

newspaper contempts only to publications likely to
influence the fair conduct of a trial.
From the Hansard archive ,

Contraventions of restraint orders are normally dealt

with as contempts of court.
From the Hansard archive ,

They cannot, as can superior courts, deal with

contempts committed elsewhere, for example
threats made against witnesses or prejudicial
publications.
From the Hansard archive ,

My reasons for focusing on the backward-looking

role of findings of contempt will become clearer
below.
From the Cambridge English Corpus ,

Many officials, it must be conceded, held creoles in

contempt.
From the Cambridge English Corpus ,

The latter was not the case here, and therefore he

had not brought religion into contempt.
From the Cambridge English Corpus ,

In one extract he had shown his contempt for the

political pragmatism espoused by the home rule
party.
From the Cambridge English Corpus ,

If he had, it is likely that he would have regarded

such faith and moral teachings with either contempt
or ridicule.
From the Cambridge English Corpus ,

Two of the three judges who delivered dissenting

verdicts in this contempt case have since been
retired, for technically legitimate but involuntary
reasons.
From the Cambridge English Corpus ,

Both were largely self-educated, both highly

individualistic and charismatic, both possessed
aristocratic tastes and contempt for groups and
organizations.
From the Cambridge English Corpus ,

When depression breeds contempt : reassurance

seeking, self-esteem, and rejection of depressed
college students by their roommates.
From the Cambridge English Corpus ,

See all examples of contempt

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any
opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the
Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its
licensors.

COLLOCATIONS with contempt

contempt
These are words often used in combination with
contempt.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

civil contempt
• I leave aside for now the distinctions among
criminal contempt, civil contempt, and coercive
contempt. 24.
From the Cambridge English Corpus ,(

contempt of court
• Justices of the peace did so regularly, and even
common law judges did so in cases of contempt of
court.
From the Cambridge English Corpus ,(

contempt proceedings
• Much evidence shows that the contempt
proceedings are not intended for that purpose
alone.
From the Hansard archive ,(

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any
opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the
Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its
licensors.

See all collocations with contempt

Translations of contempt

in Chinese (Traditional)

不尊敬, 蔑視, 鄙視…

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in Chinese (Simplified)

不尊敬, 蔑视, 鄙视…

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in Spanish

desprecio, desprecio [masculine]…

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in Portuguese

desprezo, desdém, desdém [masculine]…

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contemplatively

contemporaneous

contemporaneously

contemporary

contempt

contemptible

contemptibly

contemptuous

contemptuously

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More meanings of contempt

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self-contempt
hold someone/something in contempt phrase
familiarity breeds contempt idiom

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Hot air and bad blood (Idioms found in

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November 09, 2022

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