disdain implies an arrogant or supercilious aversion to what is regarded as unworthy.
disdained popular music
Examples of disdain in a Sentence
NounMcCarthy's indifference to accolades and his disdain for grandstanding … turned into a disdain even for being understood.—Louis Menand, New Yorker, 5 Apr. 2004There is fierce disdain within the Pentagon for the passive U.N. peacekeepers who stood by while thousands were murdered in Bosnia's ethnic cleansing.—Joe Klein, Time, 24 Nov. 2003But for all its playful love of puns and cool disdain for "suits," the high-tech world is, at heart, a cruel, unforgiving place ruled by the merciless dynamics of the marketplace.—Michiko Kakutani, New York Times, 27 June 2002
He regarded their proposal with disdain.
I have a healthy disdain for companies that mistreat their workers. VerbThe right eyes him [Thomas Jefferson] suspiciously as a limousine Jacobin so enamored of revolution that he once suggested we should have one every 20 years. The left disdains him as your basic race hypocrite.—Charles Krauthammer, Time, 22 May 2000Only in our last days on the peninsula (the arm of Antarctica that polar scientists disdain as the "Banana Belt") did we see our first frozen sea …—Kate Ford, Wall Street Journal, 12 June 1998His vehicle would be a form he both enjoyed and disdained—pulp fiction.—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., New York Times Book Review, 20 Sept. 1992There is also evidence of epic womanizing that Mr. Schickel mentions but loftily announces that he disdains to tell us about.—Camille Paglia, New York Times Book Review, 21 July 1991
They disdained him for being weak.
She disdained to answer their questions.
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Noun
Both children hold disdain for their parents' criminal activity, but team up to delve into their world when their brothers encounter one another, leaving those around them with more questions than answers.—Angela Andaloro, People.com, 21 Mar. 2025 Dropkick Murphys, who have been vocal about their disdain for President Donald Trump, also called out another fan sporting a MAGA hat at a show in Clearwater, Florida on March 8, according to a fan video shared by the band.—Amaris Encinas, USA TODAY, 18 Mar. 2025
Verb
For his second presidential term, Donald Trump stacked his health team with men who disdain the medical consensus.—Ezekiel J. Emanuel, The Atlantic, 4 Mar. 2025 Musk is a fellow who disdains the National Endowment for Democracy and hails the AfD in Germany.—Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 6 Feb. 2025 See All Example Sentences for disdain
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English desdeyne, from Anglo-French desdaign, from desdeigner — see disdainentry 2
Verb
Middle English desdeynen, from Anglo-French desdeigner, dedeigner, from Vulgar Latin *disdignare, from Latin dis- + dignare to deign — more at deign
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